THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 22, 1995 TAG: 9511210127
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Now that the new Virginia Beach Rescue Squad headquarters is completed, the city is taking steps to round out the rest of the $10 million Beach Borough Service Center.
First up will be a 21,000-square-foot Second Police Precinct, which will replace the existing building at 18th Street and Arctic Avenue.
Architects are expected to complete the design for the structure by May 1, and a construction contract would be awarded by August.
The completion date is tentatively set for August 1997, said David Grochmal, the city's director of general services.
A new 18,000-square-foot fire station would follow shortly, said Grochmal. A finished design is due Aug. 1, 1996; a contract would be let the following November; and the building would be completed a year later.
Both structures, which would include space for the Emergency Medical Services headquarters and the treasurer's office, may eventually be joined by a new branch library.
The existing branch at Arctic Avenue and 18th Street is in relatively good condition, Grochmal said, and would be retained unless the city decides to sell the property, along with the former Dome site, to a private developer for commercial use.
``At the moment, the library is driven by whether or not we sell the Dome property,'' Grochmal said.
``The library is still serviceable. We really don't need to move yet, but the fire station and the Second Precinct are different. These buildings are falling down and need to be replaced.''
The site for the police precinct and fire station will be a 9.5-acre tract bracketed by 19th Street on the north, 17th Street on the south, Washington Street on the west and Cypress Avenue on the east.
The Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad headquarters already occupies 1.4 acres of the city-owned property. It was completed and occupied in early October at a cost of about $1.7 million. The sum does not include the land, which was donated by the city.
The city has been trying since 1989 to replace the cluster of city services that now generally occupy the 18th to 19th streets and Arctic Avenue corridor, which borders the Dome property.
The entire package is up for sale to the right bidder. A deal to turn the property into a Dixie Stampede, entertainment complex, fell through in 1993 and the city has been unsuccessful in marketing it since then.
Several of the buildings, including the existing fire-rescue station, the Emergency Medical Services headquarters and treasurer's offices were built in the 1930s and '40s when Virginia Beach was a small resort town.
The existing fire station at one time housed both the town's fire and police departments.
In 1967, four years after the town merged with Princess Anne County to become the City of Virginia Beach, the city bought and renovated the old Virginia Electric and Power Co. office at 18th Street and Arctic Avenue and converted it into the Second Police Precinct. by CNB