“We’ve been working seven days a week for the past several weeks to meet that deadline,” he said of the 51-unit center that will cost between $3 million and $4 million.
One lot to the north, at 3484 Far Hills, the City of Kettering is preparing specifications for a new fire station that city manager Mark Schwieterman said will cost between $3 million and $5 million.
A former medical office building that was on the site has been cleared. Next step is for the city to seek bids from architects to design the Far Hills station and another new fire station on East David Road.
Kettering City Council approved purchasing the David Road site and surrounding land Feb. 26 for more than $875,000. That 8.75-acre property is between Glenstead Drive and Hempstead Station Drive on the south side of David on vacant land that is part of the Kettering Corporate Center. City plans call for the station built there to replace an existing one at Bigger and David roads.
The third piece of the suburban renewal on Far Hills will be the Kettering-Moraine branch of the Dayton Metro Library, which is just to the south of the Carlyle House.
Tim Kambitsch, Dayton Metro Library executive director, said the 1950s era building at 3496 Far Hills will be renovated in a project costing “in the millions.”
The work will be paid for with money raised by the levy approved in November 2012, which will include construction of new library buildings, expansions and/or renovations of existing branches throughout the Dayton area.
“We will be doing those in three phases of four to five buildings at a time. The Kettering-Moraine branch won’t be in the first phase because needs are more pressing in some of our other buildings,” Kambitsch said.
Kambitsch said the Far Hills building with get a new heating and air conditioning system, a reorganization of interior space including removal of some walls and a new exterior look including more and bigger windows.
Long-range library plans also included construction of a new or expanded Wilmington Avenue-Stroop Road branch that will incorporate a Kettering’s Rosewood Arts Centre. “I think that will be part of the final phase,” said Kambitsch, who added that no plans for any of the library changes have been drawn up. “We’ll be starting on that after our March board meeting.”
Schwieterman said the city wants to encourage a consistent look for the three buildings on Far Hills. “Greg (Nelson) has established that with Carlyle House.”
Nelson said he took the cue for that structure from the appearance of The Shops at 3000, the commercial center that opened in 2012 at Far Hills and East Dorothy Lane in Kettering.
“There was some risk in transforming this building, not knowing what was going to happen to the right or the left. But now it’s shaping up to be one extended campus.”
Schwieterman said a six-foot berm will be constructed between the driveway to Carlyle House and the fire station lot.
Library personnel have toured the Carlyle House facility and Kambitsch said Nelson has encouraged interaction with the senior center in the future.
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