Boston's first new fire station in 30 years opens in Roxbury

By adamg on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 2:21pm

Acting Mayor Kim Janey, Fire Commissioner John Dempsey and Boston firefighters today cut a ceremonial ribbon to open the new home of Engine 42 and Rescue 2 at Columbus Avenue and Bragdon Street in Roxbury - a $23.5-million replacement for the old station there that includes a ventilation system aimed at keeping carcinogens brought in from fires from reaching firefighter quarters on the second floor.

The new 2 1/2-floor station, work on which began two years ago, replaces a station built in 1952. The new building has 23,000 square feet of space, compared to 6,000 in the old building.

In addition to the better ventilation, the new station also has three bays and classroom and roof training spaces, which will mean fewer trips to the department training facility on Moon Island off Quincy. The station has a total of 14 bunk beds and a fitness room as well.

Still to come: Public art at the firehouse.

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Comments

Never noticed the old one at that location

By Gary C on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 2:27pm.

Guess I don't drive by there often enough. The old one looks pretty tired on Google.

$1000 per sq ft construction cost?

By Bob Leponge on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 7:51pm.

I understand that a fire station had complicated technical requirements, but could someone more knowledgeable than me please weigh in on how construction costs of $1,000 per sq ft stacks up against other vaguely similar projects?

First

By ElizaLeila on Fri, 10/15/2021 - 2:40pm.

The first question is if that $23.5mm is construction cost or project cost (meaning including soft costs).

If the latter, you could see roughly 15% of construction cost for the design team, then add on other soft costs such as contingency, legal, publishing, environmental remediation if outside of the construction bid.

So, say 20% of project costs covers soft costs, that's $4.7 for soft costs, $18.8 for construction costs. $817/sf. Seems reasonable for new construction in the city to me.

Nice!

By Theonlyjavy on Fri, 10/15/2021 - 3:23pm.

It’s going to be Downtown Egleston before you know it.