Celina is on the road to getting its third fire station

Celina is making moves towards breaking ground on its third fire station.

During Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, city officials approved a guaranteed maximum price for the project, located at the southeast corner of FM 1385 and Ballenger Road, giving the greenlight for construction to begin by September.

“I can’t tell you how excited we are about this project,” Assistant City Manager Kimberly Brawner told council members Tuesday.

The project, slated to support growth on FM 1385 as it grows in size and use, will include five bays. Assistant Celina Fire Chief Eric Everson said the station is expected to open with one ambulance and one engine and will eventually add a ladder truck.

The station will also be located next to a Prosper ISD elementary school.

During the council meeting, Brawner said the project came in considerably over original estimates. Back in November of 2021, numbers indicated the project would cost roughly $12.6 million, and the city had set aside $13 million for the project. As of June 2022, estimates came in at $15.8 million. The city of Celina said the increase was due to rising construction costs.

On Tuesday night, Brawner said the Celina Fire Department and the project contractor worked together to bring the price down to about $14.8 million.

“We didn’t want to ruin the aesthetics of the building,” Everson said. “We want it to still be a signature piece for the city. And it’s going to be, it’s a gorgeous fire station. We’re very excited about it.”

“We cut things that we felt would not hurt functionality but also not hurt the aesthetics of the building,” he added. “I think we did a good job of finding things that were reasonable to cut that were luxury items that we were able to trim it down.”

Everson and Brawner both said the station would be a “50-year building.”

“We’ve built it with the essentials and things that we need for that future growth,” Everson said. “So you won’t have to come back to it and add to it.”

The City Council unanimously approved the guaranteed maximum price of $14.75 million.

A groundbreaking is scheduled for September, with construction expected to be complete by August 2023. The station would then be operational by October 2023.

In February, the city approved a long-term map of where future fire and police stations will be located. See the map here.