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$3.9 million contract awarded for new Tenleytown firehouse
(Published July 12, 2004)

Long-awaited construction of a new Tenleytown firehouse in Northwest Washington is expected to get underway in August.

City officials announced July 9 that Garcete Construction Co. Inc. has been awarded a $3.9 million contract to build the new station at 4300 Wisconsin Ave. NW, where only three walls of the neighborhood's old historic firehouse remain standing. The contract requires completion within one year.

"This is an important step in moving this process forward so that we can finally have Engine 20 back in service for this part of the city," said Councilwoman Kathy Patterson, D-Ward 3.

Councilman Phil Mendelson, D-At Large, who lives in Ward 3, noted that the area has been "stripped of its firehouse for four years" and that residents need to remain vigilant to ensure that the new contractor completes the work on time.

"This project has languished far too long. …This government will waste no opportunity to slip off schedule if not watched closely," he said.

Currently, the Tenleytown area relies heavily on ambulance service from the volunteer Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad in suburban Maryland. Engine Company 20 firefighters and emergency medical workers who are permanently assigned to the Tenleytown firehouse have been working in temporary quarters located outside of the immediate neighborhood.

Designation of the Tenleytown firehouse as a historic landmark in February 2002, after demolition began, led to changes in building plans and a consequent legal dispute between the D.C. government and the contractor originally hired for the project, HRGM Corp. The original contract, for $2.9 million, called for completion in June 2003. The city fired HRGM from the project in July 2003.

Garcete Construction was selected from among five companies that bid on the project in May. Officials attributed the $1 million increase in the project's total cost to higher prices for steel, higher labor costs and continued deterioration of the site.