As the Keene (NH) Fire Department debates its options of what to do with its Hastings Avenue station, a feasibility study suggests the best route to take may be to raze it and start from the ground up, reports sentinelsource.com.
During a recent meeting, town council saw a presentation from Lavallee Brensinger Architects, a New England firm the city hired last year to renovate its Station Two. The presentation noted the building is outdated and would need a major overhaul to be brought up to code, the report says.
The report says that the station was deeded to Keene in 2018 from the N.H. Adjutant General’s Office. In 1958, when it was deeded to the N.H. Army National Guard, there was a clause noting that the property would be returned to the city if the National Guard no longer needed it.
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The station has been in use by the city since 1998, and Keene officials have long known it needs work. Lavallee Brensinger was hired in December to weigh the town’s options.
Though the design work in the presentation was preliminary, it includes a community room and public lobby, living quarters for firefighters, and a large bay for apparatus. There are no plans to build in the wetlands on the property.
The project, including the demolition of the current station, is estimated to cost around $7.5 million, which includes a 10% contingency budget.