Demolition begins at the Town & Country Center, clearing the way for Palm Springs' new downtown fire station
Excavators are tearing down part of the historic complex where the city plans its replacement Fire Station No. 1, three months after the council approved a $4 million acquisition and the preservation board signed off on removing two buildings.
PALM SPRINGS: Demolition has begun on part of the historic Town & Country Center, the downtown property where Palm Springs plans to build a new Fire Station No. 1. Photos published this week by the Desert Dispatch newsletter show an excavator, rubble and a partially dismantled building on the Indian Canyon Drive side of the complex.
In June, the City Council approved a roughly $4 million agreement to acquire nearly an acre of the property at Andreas Road and North Indian Canyon Drive from Town and Country LLC and developer Grit Development, clearing the way for the new station. The Desert Sun and NBC Palm Springs both reported the purchase as it moved through the council this spring.
The purchase drew scrutiny over its price. Public records showed the nearly one-acre parcel had been independently appraised at $3.15 million, and Mayor Pro Tem David Ready defended the roughly $850,000 premium by saying the agreement puts demolition and asbestos-removal costs on the seller rather than taxpayers, according to NBC Palm Springs.
The demolition is the first visible step in a long-planned change to downtown: a new Fire Station No. 1 on part of the historic Town & Country Center.
Two historic buildings come down
In July, the city's Historic Site Preservation Board approved the removal of two buildings at 171 and 181 N. Indian Canyon Drive. The approval calls for archival documentation of the buildings' historic features before removal, and for the assessment and stabilization of the neighboring building at 169 N. Indian Canyon Drive, which stays.
The demolition covers only part of the complex. The city's own staff report noted that the buildings at 171 and 181 N. Indian Canyon would likely need to come down so fire engines could maneuver on the tight site, and that the structures' historic status meant the preservation board had to sign off first.
Replacing a 1957 firehouse
The current Fire Station No. 1, at 277 N. Indian Canyon Drive, was built in 1957 and city officials say it no longer meets the department's needs. They have called it "vastly undersized" and unsuitable for housing both male and female firefighters, the Desert Sun reported.
An earlier plan to build the replacement station on a parking lot south of the existing firehouse was dropped after nearby business owners objected to the loss of parking. The Town & Country site keeps firefighters in the same downtown coverage area while preserving 90 public parking spaces, city officials have said.
A historic center, a new use
The Town & Country Center opened in 1948 and was designed by Paul R. Williams and A. Quincy Jones, an early example of mixed-use desert modernism that the city designated a Class 1 historic site in 2016. Most of the existing businesses along Palm Canyon Drive are not affected by the sale.
The acquisition displaced Well in the Desert, a nonprofit that ran a food bank out of 181 N. Indian Canyon Drive. Its lease was terminated in late May, and the organization's president said about 250 families a week picked up food there on Saturdays. Grit Development has said it is working with the nonprofit to find another home.
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