Even as the apartment-building boom proceeds in the Junction/Triangle area, a different type of construction project is on the drawing boards: The new Fire Station 32. This has been in the works for a long time, but is just now moving closer to reality; this week, the city applied for permits for the Fire Levy-funded project. The plan is to demolish the current station and build a new one on the same site (38th/Alaska), described in the city’s online files as “a new 3-story structure with basement, elevated parking deck and site walls.”

We took a few followup questions to city spokesperson Katherine Schubert-Knapp, who replies that (a) there’s no design yet – “we’re in the schematic design phase with our architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson“; (b) the interim site for relocating the station during construction has not yet been chosen; (c) the timeline envisions demolition around “the end of 2014-beginning of 2015. The station construction is expected to be complete by first quarter 2016.”

While Station 32 is already key to responses in West Seattle, as home to an engine, ladder truck, and Medic 32, the city’s summary of the project says, “As part of the rebuild, Station 32 is slated for major improvements and conversion to the lead station for Battalion VII, which covers all of West Seattle, southwest Seattle, and Harbor Island, and the industrial areas lining both sides of the Duwamish River.”