{"id":38881,"date":"2025-11-07T00:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/38881\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T00:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:22:08","slug":"corpus-christi-plans-to-build-two-new-fire-stations-cost-in-flux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/38881\/","title":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi plans to build two new fire stations, cost in flux"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city is moving forward with the design of two new stations, but construction funding is still not approved and a recent bond rating downgrade could raise costs.<\/p>\n

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 More than 70 years after it first opened, Corpus Christi Fire Station 11 on Airline Road is moving closer to replacement, though the city has not yet secured the funding needed to build a new facility.<\/p>\n

Built in 1954, the station has long surpassed its intended lifespan. Firefighters there say they need an additional bay for equipment, a larger kitchen, a dedicated weight room and updated central air conditioning to keep up with increasing demands and modern safety standards.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Nueces County voters could expand rural EMS coverage with Proposition A<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year, voters approved a bond allowing the city to start design work and acquire land for a replacement station. But the funding required to construct the new building has not been appropriated, leaving the timeline for Station 11\u2019s rebuild uncertain.<\/p>\n

Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Wade said updating aging stations is essential for both firefighter health and the safety of the community.<\/p>\n

“Some of our fire stations we have definitely used them very very well and they’re some of our busiest stations so it’s very important for us to update the facilities,” Wade said. “There’s new technologies, there’s new safety measures to help reduce cancer. So when we’re looking at this and getting these new designs for these aging fire stations that have served the community so well.”<\/p>\n

City officials say Station 11 is one of several older firehouses the city hopes to modernize in the coming years.<\/p>\n

“It’s just one of a number of fire stations we’re improving,” Councilman At-Large Mark Scott said. “If you look at what we’ve done on Horne and I guess Morgan, they’re beautiful facilities. They blend in with the surrounding community so it’s not ‘one design fits all.’ We spend a lot of energy to make sure it accentuates what the neighborhood has.”<\/p>\n

But Scott says the city’s recent bond rating downgrade could raise borrowing costs for public improvement projects.<\/p>\n

“Every taxpayer in Corpus Christi should be dismayed by any downgrade by any rating company. What that means is, it’s harder for us to sell bonds to pay for these public improvements, which means we have to pay a higher interest rate,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

He said the higher interest rates could affect everything from fire station replacements to major long-term projects, including the proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant.<\/p>\n

“If because of our downgrade we have to pay higher interest, all of the rate payers have to pay that difference so it’s bad,” Scott said. “It’s a bad thing to have the rating agencies downgrade you. Nobody, in any city in America, wants to be part of a rating agency downgrade.”<\/p>\n

Design work is moving forward not only for Station 11 but also for a replacement Station 9. City officials say actual construction for both stations will depend on when funding becomes available and when the necessary real estate can be secured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city is moving forward with the design of two new stations, but construction funding is still not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-38881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}