The City of Cincinnati has broken ground on the new Fire Station 51 at in College Hill.

The new $3.8 million, 12,000-square-foot facility replaces the existing College Hill fire station at , built in 1914.

The first "single unit" fire station built by the City since Over-the-Rhine's Fire Station 5 in 1958, the firehouse will accommodate one engine company and will feature an oversized apparatus bay to house additional future resources.

The project is the combined effort of the City's Facilities Management Division of the Department of Public Services; architects Moody • Nolan, Inc.; engineers Dynamix Engineering, Ltd and CDS Associates, Inc.; and landscape architects Groundwork Design Collaborative, LLC.

"With this new firehouse, the Cincinnati Fire Department will be better able to serve the community," says Fire Chief Robert Wright. "Firefighters will also have an opportunity to directly interact with residents of the College Hill neighborhood."

Fire Station 51 also is being constructed to U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver standardsand will include the use of natural light, low flow plumbing, rain gardens, pervious pavement, rain water collection that will fill the pumper truck, and vegetative and reflective roofing.

Construction should be completed in 2010.

This is the second fire station replacement project undertaken by the City in the past two years.

Fire Station 9, completed in 2008 in Paddock Hills, was the City's first LEED-certified public building and its first new fire station since 1982.

Photo credit: City of Cincinnati

Previous reading on BC:
Inside Cincinnati Fire Station No. 9 (4/1/08)
Cincinnati's first LEED-certified public building opens today (2/27/08)