Station 50 Construction Underway

In an effort to keep citizens updated on the City of Marco Island’s major capital projects, Coastal Breeze News has begun a series of articles reviewing the background and costs, as well as the planning, that has gone into the projects over the years. 

In our December 9 issue, Coastal Breeze News published an article on the work taking place at Veterans Community Park. Our reporting will continue as the projects progress, in order to keep our readers informed.

This week’s article will review the planning for replacing Marco Island’s Station 50, which until recently housed the Marco Island Fire Department headquarters. 

Hurricane Standards and Code Changes

Since the early 1990’s, when the present-day structure was built, numerous changes have been made to the Florida Building Codes and construction standards in order to make buildings more hurricane-resilient. FEMA also adopted new flood zone standards. The present building fails to meet those standards and would not be eligible for FEMA or other funding.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew raced across South Florida causing $26.5 Billion in damages before it moved northward. At the time, it was the costliest hurricane to impact the state. In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused $50 Billion in damages to the State of Florida, with considerable damage to the Keys, as well as Southwest Florida, before moving northward into Georgia.

Over the last 10 years, the city has reviewed the structural problems with Station 50, finding environmental concerns as well as space constraints since the building’s construction over 30 years ago. 

Hurricane Irma reinforced staff’s resolve to move forward. The storm surge created by the Category 3 hurricane caused serious flooding issues on the island, some of which seriously affected Station 50, its personnel and equipment.

The cost to address the issues identified by staff was impacted by the fact that the building was no longer eligible for FEMA grant programs. This was due to the fact that the building was well below flood grade. 

That issue alone seriously increased construction costs, requiring the need to level the original structure and create a “greenfield project.” The rising price of building materials has also affected the project’s construction cost.

Medical Arts Building Acquisition 

Coinciding with planning for Station 50’s replacement, the Medical Arts Building’s owner offered the property to the city for purchase. That particular property, which the city has purchased, is located at 1310 San Marco Road, adjacent to the city campus.

The purchase of the Medical Arts Building enables apparatus to maintain its strategic geographic location, and will house suppression personnel and the department’s administrative staff during the 12-to 18-month estimated build time for the new Station 50 headquarters. 

Satellite Offices for County Services 

Once completed, and when the fire department moves into its new facility, the city will take advantage of the increased space to move some of its personnel from City Hall into the newly- available office area. Plans are already in the works to lease the remaining space to county personnel for use as satellite offices. This will benefit Marco residents and businesses, providing them with local access to necessary Collier County services, rather than the 30-mile roundtrip journey into Naples.

CMAR vs. Design Build Method

The City of Marco Island has deviated from its normal “design-build” method of delivering projects such as this. The city has done the same with the Veterans Community Park project. The city is utilizing a Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) versus its usual process of design, bid and build management method. The CMAR process involves the Construction Manager guaranteeing that the project does not exceed the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) after the city has accepted their bid. Any overages would be the responsibility of the CMAR.

Project Costs

As of today, the contract with Manhattan Construction is $12,680,286. In addition to those monies, the city has expended $1,180,195 for design and architectural work by BSSW Architects of Fort Myers, Florida.

Eight million dollars of a recently approved $13 Million bond issue for the Veterans Community Park and Station 50 projects will be used to help pay for both projects. Other funding will come from a FEMA grant, as well as already-encumbered funds for the building’s replacement.

The city purchased the Medical Arts Building for $2,235,000, which is being utilized for housing the fire department personnel. After the contract closed, environmental issues were discovered that had to be remediated. Other additional reconstruction costs were incurred to facilitate the move-in of personnel.

Coastal Breeze News will continue to update readers as more progress is made on this and other major capital projects within the City of Marco Island.