(From Fire Station 32 “schematic design” packet dated August 2013, by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson)

Last October, we reported on the latest twist in the years-delayed construction of a new Fire Station 32 in The Triangle – the city was sending it out to bid again, despite having been so close to construction that it had moved the crews into a temporary location half a year earlier.

Tonight, the city has announced that construction is finally about to begin, with the “notice to proceed” issued today, and demolition of the old station planned within a few weeks:

The new contractor Howard S. Wright – which, as noted in our December followup, built the Space Needle – will start staging this week, according to the notification letter (thanks to Anand for sharing a copy), and major work is expected to start by mid-March, projected to last about 14 months. The project is funded under the 2003 Fire Levy and was originally supposed to be complete in 2007 – instead, if everything stays on schedule now, it’ll be 2017.

A variety of factors played into the 10-year schedule slide; most recently, as the city’s Finance and Administrative Services Department explained for our story last year, the city and its original contractor had a “general contractor/construction manager” contract but couldn’t agree on “a negotiated cost that fit within the city budget,” so the city was cancelling the pre-construction contract and seeking a new contractor via a more traditional process.