DeKalb proposes $3.6M contract with local developer for 4th fire station

DeKALB – The city of DeKalb has proposed a $3.6 million contract with local developer Irving Construction to build a fourth fire station on South Malta Road, documents show.

DeKalb-based Irving Construction offered the lowest build to get the project done out of six others, according to documents released Thursday ahead of Monday’s DeKalb City Council meeting.

City staff are recommending council approval when it comes up for a vote Monday.

Other companies that bid on the fire station construction project included: Stenstrom Construction with a $4.3 million contract; Construction Inc. with a $5 million contract; Scandroli Construction with a $3.8 million contract; Gehrke Construction with a $3.7 million contract; Tyler Lane Construction with a $4.4 million contract and KWCC with a $4.3 million contract, documents show.

The DeKalb City Council has already greenlit preliminary plans for a fourth fire station, which officials have said is needed due to a high volume of 911 calls on the city’s southwest side and slower-than-desired response times.

[ Fourth fire station in DeKalb? $4M proposal could improve response times, city staff say ]

In February, Fire Chief Mike Thomas said a fourth fire station would allow the city’s first responders to expand their reach and shorten those response times, particularly where he said “holes” were, including in subdivisions at the Knolls, Devonaire Farms and homes south of there.

Thomas previously said the city’s response times to those areas were greater than the industry standard of four minutes because it takes longer to get to those areas. A fire station in that spot in town would help alleviate that, he previously said.

The City Council on July 23, 2023, threw their unanimous support behind a five-year Fire Department plan that also included constructing a fourth station. The council approved an architectural agreement Aug. 28, 2023, with a Chicago-based firm to help prepare plans for a three-bay, 7,780-square-foot station. On Sept. 11, 2023, the City Council approved a $4.3 bond to fund the station and on Feb. 14 approved plans to allow the station on South Malta Road, documents show.

The city went out to bid for the project April 23.

The full Irving Construction contract proposes constructing the fire station at 1130 S. Malta Road for $3,680,000, according to the signed contract.

Among its portfolio of work in DeKalb, the 50-year-old Irving Construction also has done almost $2 million of renovation work for DeKalb School District 428; about $1.1 million of work for the DeKalb Park District including work on pickle ball and tennis courts and playground renovations; built the 70,000-square-foot DeKalb Police Department for $12 million in 2013; did about $6.5 million work for the Egyptian Theatre’s additions and HVAC upgrades and built the new home for First United Methodist Church of DeKalb for $5 million, according to city documents.

Shaw Local New Network reporter Megann Horstead contributed.