Fire (Station) in the Hole

Posts Tagged ‘Koons Garage’

Over the past weeks the Koons Toyota garage has revealed itself to be fairly handsome, all things considered. Certainly it adds value to Koons. It could even be argued that the garage is more elegant than the main building. All things considered.

Then last week they went and slapped on some really cheezy ginormous numbers for its Lee Hwy address — as-if it would be hard to find. But its the size plus the 2nd rate kitschyness of the numbers that really kills the deal.  It forces ones eyes — well at least mine —  to a structure that previously blended in to the neighborhood. I wonder why they didn’t imbed the address into the facade. Bleh. Multi-million dollar garage and $1.98 wall wart. Go figure. No doubt the birds will be flying over singing “cheap, cheap.”

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:

This blog is officially pre-empted by Snomageddon, Snowzilla, Snowpocalpse, or whatever you are calling this ridiculous snow of 2010. I had a regular construction update prepared, but snow rules. (Bonus: bookmark this post and re-live it in August. I think it might be looking pretty good then).

Of course we all thought the December snow was our “once a decade” storm. Who knew it would be followed by a “once a century” storm (well, I certainly hope so at least).  I have a couple videos to show the damage, and pics too. (Be sure to kick up the video to 720p and watch full screen for full impact). No idea what this does to the construction schedule, but can’t be good.

Dec. & Jan. Storm Comparo — take a look at the far northern wall on the left side in both pics:

Close up of the far northern wall:

Video as storm winds up Friday Evening:

Video during storm on Saturday Afternoon:

Lee Highway Looking West; East:

21st Rd @ Lee Looking North:

Between Service Bay and Garage: