DeLand Mayor Robert Apgar with members of the DeLand Fire Department.
Goodbye old DeLand Elks Lodge, and hello new fire station!
The property at 150 S. Clara Ave., the former home of the DeLand Elks Lodge, will be the new home of the DeLand Fire Department. DeLand Elks Lodge 1463 moved to its new home at 614 S. Alabama Ave. in 2018.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held Sept. 11 at the site of the future fire station. The construction is overseen by the contractor, Keator Construction.
“The existing fire station was last updated in the late 1970s, and that was the last time it was really modernized,” DeLand Public Services Director Keith Riger said. “It doesn’t have a lot of the safety features and components that are present in modern fire stations.”
During demolition, local business Florida Victorian Architectural Antiques and Salvage was on the scene to rescue a few doors and windows and some heart-pine wood, a long-lasting building material that was commonly used in buildings of that time period.
Construction of the new fire station coincides with construction of a new police evidence building, which will sit kitty-corner from the fire station and across the street from the current DeLand Police Station at 219 E. Howry Ave., at the intersection of Howry and Clara avenues.
Riger said the new building will allow the DeLand Police Department to process large evidence, like vehicles, much closer to the Police Station than where this kind of evidence is currently processed, at the Public Works yard on South Garfield Avenue.
Construction of the new fire station and evidence building is scheduled to finish near the end of 2021.
— Noah Hertz
