Lease Unsuccessful; Old Valley Fire Station No. 3 Up For Sale

For sale: One-bedroom, one-bath rambler, with large kitchen and double garage (automatic opener a plus). Near major arterial, offering easy freeway access. Appraised at $220,000.

After unsuccessfully trying to lease the building that until February housed Fire Station No. 3, Valley Fire District commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to put the building at Appleway Avenue and Michigan Road on the market.

Commissioners previously opposed selling the station, preferring instead to lease the building. However, a lack of potential tenants and zoning difficulties prompted the fire commissioners to change their minds.

“We could not lease it very profitably as it stands now,” said Karl Bold, Valley Fire assistant chief.

The building, which is zoned for residential use, has been vacant since the new Station No. 3 opened six months ago on Harvard Road north of Interstate 90. Maintenance duties, such as mowing and watering the grass around the old station, have been difficult because the building is not manned, Bold said.

So far, interest in the vacant station has been for mostly commercial uses, meaning a zone change would be necessary and the restrooms would have to be remodeled to make them handicapped accessible, Bold said.

Doing both could cost the district about $10,000.

Recognizing the possibility of a diminishing return, commissioners reluctantly decided to hang a for sale sign on the old fire station, which was built in the 1950s. Valley Fire plans to reserve the right to refuse any and all offers, and could reconsider leasing the building.

“That’ll do two things,” Commissioner Tom Gregory said. “You’ll know what you can get for the property and you can go out and look for a new site.”

Chief Pat Humphries has long recommended selling the station. Anticipated growth in the southern Valley will shift demand, making a location west of the Appleway station a better choice if a new one is needed, he said.

Additionally, the building is too small to house the district’s larger trucks, and the property it is built on is too small to allow for adequate expansion of the old station, Humphries said.

Valley Fire commissioners asked Humphries to study the area’s projected growth patterns and recommend a suitable site for a new station, should one become necessary.

, DataTimes