Construction of a new fire station in Cleveland took another step as Cleveland City Council on Tuesday awarded a $5.138 million contract to LDF Construction of Conroe. The new fire station will be built on a parcel donated to the City by McKinley Development, developer of Grand Oaks Reserve.
The new fire station will be known as Fire Station 2 and will be directly located behind the Parkway convenience store that faces the SH 105 bypass and SH 321 (Houston St.).
Funding for the new fire station comes from municipal bond money.
The City received a total of nine bids for the project with LDF not being the lowest bidder. The lowest bid was for $4.8 million.
Prior to taking the vote, Cleveland Mayor Richard Boyett reminded the Council that the difference in price should be considered.
“We could do a lot with that,” he said. “That’s almost a pumper truck.”
Councilmembers James Franklin, Carolyn McWaters and Marilyn Clay, who voted in favor of the LDF bid, believed it was best for the City to follow the recommendation of the architect firm, BRW, which vetted each bid based on the costs and qualifications. LDF’s history of construction of more than a dozen other fire stations weighed in its favor.
It will be a two-story, three-bay building that will have a brick veneer and board-and-batten siding. The entryway roof will have exposed timbers that are similar to the design of Cleveland Civic Center and Cleveland City Hall.
The fire station, once built, should help with response times on the east side of the city. It will serve the entire city and will provide support for Fire Station 1, located at 205 E. Boothe St.
A timeline for construction is not available as of yet but the City is anxious to get the project started as soon as possible.
Bid it out but give it to a higher bidder. This was done twice. Just a few million like the man said that would have bought a new fire truck. Wonder what’s going on?
Easily understood why it was awarded to a higher bidder,just look at the home base of the contractor yells buddy system
Martin if they got this much money to throw away why did they need a School Bond?