Boulder Rural Fire Department Buys New HQ
Acquire handles commercial, residential, vacation rentals
2/28/2010
Source: Boulder County Business Report
Author: David Clucas
BOULDER - The Boulder Rural Fire Protection District will have a new home after completing a deal on Monday to purchase a 25,440-square-foot office building in
the Gunbarrel neighborhood for $2.3 million.
The fire department plans to spend another $1.7 million to retrofit the building at 6230 Lookout Road into its new station, where it expects to move to in about a year. Boulder Rural Fire currently resides in about 7,500 square feet at 5075 Jay Road.
"After 22 years at our current location and almost three years of searching for an acceptable site, we are eager to move forward," Fire Chief Bruce Mygatt said in a press release. "We've simply outgrown our current facility, and with the zoning and building codes, we can't add on or build a larger facility on our current site. Maintenance costs are becoming prohibitive and the safety of our firefighters and local traffic issues are real concerns."
A local private investment group, RRC Properties LLC, sold the vacant building to Boulder Rural Fire. Scot Smith, Susan Chrisman and Wade Arnold with The
Colorado Group Inc., and Paige Coker Heiman with Acquire Inc. helped broker the real estate deal.
Mygatt said the challenging economic climate presented an opportune time to begin the new fire station project. The property was purchased at a lower cost than replacement, and labor and construction costs are reduced, he said. In addition, Boulder Rural Fire negotiated a Build America Bond loan, which provides a 35 percent credit on the interest paid because of the additional jobs the project will create.
Primary funding for the new station is coming from a 2006 mill levy approved by taxpayers of the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District. The district covers about 25 square miles in unincorporated Boulder County with 17,000 people and 7,000, mostly residential, properties.
The new fire station will improve response times and customer service, Mygatt said. In addition, the extra space will accommodate both current and future operational needs - housing all of the department's equipment indoors, providing sleeping and living quarters and making room for physical conditioning, educational and training activities.