Durango Fire Protection District Chief Randy Black already knows how some residents will respond when they hear the fire department has purchased another building: “What are you doing? Why would you do this? It’s crazy. … You guys have too much money,” he said.
But once they understand how the deal came together and how it will save taxpayers millions of dollars, he is confident residents will understand and be supportive.
In November, DFPD purchased a two-story building in Bodo Industrial Park for $4 million. That building, previous owned by the federal government, is at 103 Sheppard Drive, directly across from DFPD’s current location at 104 Sheppard Drive.
Residents may recall DFPD purchased the Durango School District 9-R administration building for $6.9 million in December 2021. The agency planned to rebuild its downtown fire station at that location.
After considerable pushback from some residents, DFPD struck a deal with the city of Durango to do a building swap with payment.
The city would take possession of the 9-R admin building, and the fire department would take ownership of River City Hall, which is next to the existing downtown fire station in the 1200 block of Camino del Rio. That would allow the fire department to expand the downtown station at its current site.
Everyone’s happy, right?
Not exactly.
The fire department quickly realized it would cost too much to build a new fire station and administrative offices at the downtown location, Black said. More specifically, it costs about $816 per square foot for new construction at the downtown location, he said.
By reducing the amount of new construction at the downtown building, and purchasing existing office space in Bodo Industrial Park, the fire department says it is able to save taxpayers millions of dollars.
What’s more, the so-called federal building in Bodo leases space to federal agencies, including the U.S. Social Security Administration. By maintaining those leases, the rent will eventually pay off the building, Black said.
“The rent is a revenue source to basically pay for the building,” Black said. “It was kind of a no-brainer.”
The federal building is about 23,500 square feet in size. For the most part, the federal offices that lease space are located on the lower level of the building. The fire department has enough space to operate on the second floor.
Black estimated the fire department is paying about $160 per square foot at the federal building compared to the $816 per square foot it’d pay by doing new construction at the downtown location.
The federal building happened to go on the market around the time DFPD realized it was going to be cost-prohibited to build a new fire station with administration offices, he said.
Black said he took the idea of purchasing the federal building to the DFPD board of directors and received a somewhat predictable response: “They just looked like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’” Black said.
However, he said once they saw the whole picture and took time to understand it, they became “very responsive.”
Board members toured the building and approved the purchase, he said.
“It gave us a better space at a better price for the administration needs,” Black said.
He said the downtown fire station will still be built, but it won’t be as big as originally planned because it won’t have administrative offices. The station, which is now estimated to cost $12.9 million to build, will have all the amenities necessary for a fully functioning downtown fire station, including living quarters for firefighters, he said.
The fire district also plans to sell its building at 104 Sheppard Drive, because it will no longer need those administrative offices, he said.
DFPD said it could move its administrative offices into the former federal building as soon as January or February.
“It was much cheaper – a fraction of the price of trying to do new construction downtown,” Black said. “And has more parking.”
shane@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story said the Durango Fire Protection District experienced considerable push back from East Third Avenue residents for its plan to build a fire station at the Durango School District 9-R administration site. While some East Third Avenue residents opposed the idea, not all of them did. The opposition was more widespread than just East Third Avenue residents.
