Fire Training Center to be Built in Ind.
July 23--SOUTH BEND -- The Board of Public Works on Tuesday awarded a contract to construct the new Luther J. Taylor Sr. Fire Safety Training Center on East Sample Street.
Low bidder Ziolkowski Construction of South Bend will complete the work at a cost of about $2.6 million.
That's in addition to the $1.9 million appropriated in May for the purchase and installation of two pre-constructed buildings at the site.
The center is being financed with a 20-year municipal bond, to be repaid with revenue generated by EMS user fees. No tax money is involved.
Construction is set to begin in about two weeks, with a "substantial completion" date of Jan. 10, South Bend Fire Chief Steve Cox said Tuesday.
"We anticipate within two weeks we'll be digging a hole out there, and we're pretty excited about that," Cox said.
The center, at High and Sample streets, just south of downtown, will include a small classroom building, a residential burn building, an extrication area and a training tower.
Luther Taylor is a former South Bend fire chief.
In other business Monday, the board approved a request by the St. Joseph County Public Library to vacate the north-south alley behind the main library downtown.
Part of the alley will remain open, providing access to the two city-owned lots between Michigan and Main streets, but ownership will transfer to the library.
The purpose is to eliminate traffic between the library and a proposed parking lot on the east side of the alley, where the Avon Theater and Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend once stood.
Copyright 2013 - South Bend Tribune, Ind.
