After nearly three years of renovations and higher-than-expected costs, the redesigned North Fire Station in Palm Beach is officially open.
Firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and other staff moved in to the new building March 27, Assistant Fire Chief Joe Sekula told the Daily News Monday.
The move followed an extensive redevelopment of the two-story landmarked building at 300 N. County Road. Work on the $17 million project began in 2022 and was completed in January.
Fire-Rescue officials initially planned for staff to move in the following month, but the transition was delayed to ensure all building systems were fully functional and tested, Sekula said. “Everyone is excited to be back home, and have been working hard to get all of the boxes unpacked and equipment organized,” he said. “It is a great feeling to have all of our personnel back home, and we are very appreciative of all of the hard work that was invested into our new fire station.” During the renovation, North Fire Station personnel operated out of a temporary station beside the old one, near the intersection of North County and Wells roads.
The temporary station, which was built by American Modular Systems of Manteca, California, includes a dormitory trailer that housed up to six firefighters, and a bunker storage shed that housed fire gear. Now that Fire-Rescue staff have returned to the building, the town has begun breaking down and removing the canopy that housed the unit, the bunker storage shed and the trailer itself, Sekula said. Once that work is complete, the town will restore the intersection and complete final site improvements, Jason Debrincat, assistant director of public works and project engineer for the fire station renovation, told the Daily News in January.
The shade structure, traffic barriers and bunker storage shed will be repurposed in town, Debrincat said. The temporary trailer will be sold. Work on the North Fire Station included a complete renovation of the historic structure, which was built in 1927.
Its condition deteriorated over the years, and roof leaks had been a longtime issue. Water intrusion caused by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 led to mold, forcing the relocation of the staff until the building was remediated. An inspection in July 2021 uncovered additional water damage and mold intrusion.
“We discovered roof leaks in the process of inspecting the roof,” Paul Brazil, the town’s director of public works, told the council during a budget workshop that month. “We also had a company come in and check for any water damage. They did find evidence of some mold.”
Tests revealed that the air quality inside the building remained good, but council members agreed to move up the building’s renovation after deeming it a “top priority.” The council allocated $1.5 million of a $2.7 million budget surplus for the work, which initially was expected to cost $5.5 million.
That figure ballooned after a significant amount of deterioration was discovered in July 2022 when work on the project got underway, and building officials determined it would be unsafe to continue without additional demolition, Wayne Bergman, the town’s director of planning, zoning & building, told the council in August 2023.
The fire station’s design team, which was helmed by Mark Marsh of Palm Beach-based Bridges Marsh, didn’t expect such a large-scale demolition when the landmarks board approved the work, Bergman said. The extent of the demolition “was not anticipated initially by the town or by Mr. Marsh when the project received the certificate of appropriateness for the renovations, repairs and fenestration replacement back in July of last year,” Bergman said.
Marsh told staff the tower and roof were unsafe, and that the contractor could not safely work on the building as the roof and other structural components were severely compromised, Bergman said.
Additionally, the structure was found to contain termite-ridden wood, stress cracks in the walls, corroded steel structural beams, sagging rafters, and evidence of spalling in the concrete columns throughout the building.
“If a half-decent hurricane came through here, it would blow the roof off,” David Carmo, the project’s structural engineer, told council members.
The North Fire Station is among the oldest operating fire stations in Florida. The building was landmarked in 1988.
