The Antonia Fire Protection District has a place to build a future firehouse.
The district paid $33,572 to purchase about 2 acres of land from the Missouri Department of Transportation near the intersection of Old Hwy. 21 and Hwy. M in the Otto area, Chief Matt Krutzsch said.
He said the deal was closed on June 22, and the district paid for the property with proceeds from the $225,000 it received when it sold the old House 1 at 3538 Old Hwy. M in February.
Krutzsch said it will likely take about two years for the new house to be built, and he said a budget has not been set because district officials are still trying to determine what style of building they will have constructed.
He also said the new firehouse, which will be called House 1, will have a similar footprint to House 2 at 6633 Moss Hollow Road in Barnhart and likely will have two or three bays for firetrucks and equipment.
“Originally, my thought was to have a pole-barn style with a decorative front,” Krutzsch said. “We are talking with an architect right now to see what style is most cost efficient. In the initial talks, he was throwing out different ways to do it that wouldn’t be much more than the cost of a pole barn.”
After determining the style and size of the new firehouse to be built, district officials will seek bids for architectural services, and once plans for the building are completed, the district will seek construction bids, he said.
“We want the building to last for years,” he said. “The other building (the original House 1) was over 50 years old. We want to build something that will last like the other building while doing it in the most effective way.”
Antonia Fire also has House 3 at 7138 Old Hwy. 21, which is about 2 miles from the property where the new House 1 will be built.
He said the district probably will close House 3 after the new firehouse is built.
“We may sell that (House 3) or keep it for storage,” Krutzsch said. “It will depend on the price (offered to buy the house). It will be like with (House 1), where the price tag we got for it was hard to say, ‘Let’s keep it.’ My goal is to sell (House 3) and use that money to put toward the new engine house.”
Krutzsch said the district will have to determine how to finance construction of the new house.
He said proceeds from the sale of the old House 1 are in an interest-bearing savings account, and that money could double by the time a construction company is hired.
He also said if House 3 is sold, Antonia Fire would use the proceeds from that sale to help build the new house.
“We will see if we need to go for a bond issue or see what type of loans are out there,” Krutzsch said. “The money issue is up in the air, right now.”
Krutzsch said the new House 1 will be in a better location for the fire district. Antonia Fire covers 36 square miles and covers parts of Barnhart, Imperial, House Springs and Hillsboro.
“We will have easy access to Hwy. M to get to the west side of our district, and we will have easy access to get to the east,” he said. “If we are going north and south, we will have easy access to Hwy. 21. Also, everything is a straight shot, and we don’t have to climb hills. We will not have to climb hills for anywhere we need to get to, and that speeds up the response time. It is a better central location for that side of the district.”
The Board of Directors voted unanimously in November to negotiate with MoDOT to purchase the property for the new House 1, and the deal just closed, Krutzsch said.