Fire (Station) in the Hole

Many have asked when the fire station construction is going to start. Here is the answer according to Rick Pinsky, Arlington County’s FS3 project manager:

“Due to status of the Final Engineering Plan approval and site transfer delay FD&C has not issued a Notice To Proceed to Whiting – Turner.

Whiting-Turner will not accept the site due to excess soil on the site (this is the site transfer issue).  FD&C needs a timeline from Keane’s for removal of the soil from the site.  With recent weather conditions, a snow covered site and then dry out, it will be difficult for Keane’s to venture a guess.

Once FD&C has issued a NTP, Whiting-Turner will have 395 days to complete the project.  If FD&C issued a NTP on March 1, 2010, the project should be completed by March 31, 2011.“

So there you have it . (Keane is the construction manager for the Koons Toyota Garage)

One other Q&A – I was asked if Koons is permanently parking its cars on 21st Rd near Lee. The answer is I hope not. The cars parking there now belong to construction employees. When the garage is completed there is no parking on 21st Rd. from Lee Hwy to the west end of the fire station.

Last weekend mystical eleves striped the three Koons garage levels. I didn’t even notice the work was being done until it was. Oddly it’s a good sight to see because it means the garage is that much closer to completion. Not much other real excitement.

Striped :

South Facade Looking West:

Brick Veneer On East Side Creeps Northward:

Preparing for Window Grids on West Facade:

Enough with the snow. The copious amounts of snow being removed from the Koons Toyota Garage on Saturday:

Now for a little Back To The Future. Back on Feb 5, before the snow was all that was anyone’s mind, the switch was flipped for the lights. Here is a “before” and “after”:

One of the last steps to completion is repaving the area between the Koons service bay and the garage. Here the base is being laid down:

I think this is how we all feel now. (If you can’t tell what it is, its snow breeching the northern wall of the Koons Toyota garage.)

Here’s a before Snowpocalypse I and after Snowpocalypse II. First picture was taken Feb 1, right after the Jan 28 mini storm that dropped a few inches. Second picture was taken yesterday morning. Yeah, wow.

If you are wondering how this affects the completion of the garage and “Ground Breaking” for Fire Station 3, Arlington County has a progress meeting with the FS3 contractor, Whiting-Turner scheduled for Feb 17. That should be around the time FS3 construction starts in earnest.