The U.S. Coast Guard will soon say goodbye to its 100-year-old building in Painesville Township and hello to a new state-of-the-art complex.
In the coming months, the U.S. Coast Guard plans to demolish the existing station and boathouse sitting along Coast Guard Road in Painesville Township and build a new $11.3 million complex in its place by September 2014.
The current facility is 100 years old and is due for more than a makeover, said Commander Lt. Edward Wieland, project manager for the US Coast Guard's Facilities Design and Construction Center.
The new facility will feature a heating and lighting system that meets LEED standards, Wieland said.
"We're reducing our energy footprint with the new facility," he said. "Everything will be efficient all around."
The new boathouse will lose the old rail system it uses to reel boats in for maintenance. In its place, the Coast Guard will add a travel lift that can lift motor life boats up to 47 feet long, Wieland said.
After construction is complete, life boats from Cleveland and eastern Coast Guard stations will be serviced for maintenance at the new boathouse, Wieland said.
"It will be a regional boat maintenance facility," he said. "We'll have four and five boats rotating in for maintenance."
Haskell, a design, engineering and construction firm based out of Jacksonville, Fla., has finished the design and is working on the construction portion of the project. Dispatchers and Coast Guard officers will be moved to temporary trailers by May 17 so demolition work can start, Wieland said.
Workers will serve out of the trailers for 12 to 14 months throughout the project's construction. Wieland said the Coast Guard officers and dispatchers will not be cutting back any services.
"Accommodations won't be as convenient for crew but operations will not be impacted," he said of crew moving to the temporary trailer facilities.