NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Pasco County Fire Rescue’s state-of-the-art Station 17 was supposed to be completed months ago, but the partially constructed building sits boarded up on Seven Springs Boulevard.
When the groundbreaking took place in June 2021, it was billed to become one of the best fire stations in the area. The building has four large bays, two stories and is over 18,000 square feet. The structure is also designed to have unique warm and cold zones which aim to reduce firefighter cancer rates.
At the groundbreaking, officials said it should take nine months to complete.
Nearly two and a half years later, the fire station property is full of weeds with boards on the windows and not a construction worker in sight.
The first responders who used to work at the old Seven Springs Boulevard location moved to a station a few miles away more than two years ago so construction could begin. Now residents at Veterans Villas, the nearby townhome community, want to know when construction will resume and when the first responders they know and love will return.
“It’s not so much that it’s an eyesore, it’s just reminding you that there’s a great big hole in the community,” said Mike Traverso who has owned a home in Veteran’s Villas for 20 years.
Traverso is in his 70s and was diagnosed with MS. He uses an electric recliner and walker to help him in his home, and a motorized wheelchair to get around the neighborhood.
“There’s been several occasions where I’ve needed their help. A couple of trips to the hospital, a couple of falls,” he recalled.
Traverso said for years, he’d hear the sirens turn on at the fire station before his wife could even hang up the phone. Now, having the first responders farther away has taken that comfort away for Traverso and many others.
“It’s just been that much longer that I might have laid on the floor waiting for help,” he said.
It’s not just response times — Traverso says there’s a hole in the community without them nearby. He says each holiday season they bring treats and gift cards to let the first responders know how much they are appreciated. He says he just misses their presence.
“I want to see it done, and I want to see it done correctly.”
According to a spokesperson with Pasco County government, the original contractor defaulted on the project. Signs on the property show the contractor was R L Burns, a general contractor based out of Orlando.
“After the default of the original contractor, the bonding company bid out the remaining work and presented to Pasco County a new contractor to complete the work,” county spokesperson Ryan Hughes wrote in an email. “The bonding company and County Attorney’s Office are working through details of the agreement and to accept Blackwater Construction’s proposal to complete the project.
“The County anticipates that agreement will be accepted within the next few weeks.”
When the default occurred, the fire station was about 75 percent complete.
It’s not clear what it will cost to finish the project or when work will resume as the county and Blackwater Construction work to finalize the agreement.