By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The city may build a new fire station on the vacant lot next to Don Carter Lanes that housed the former Magna grocery store for years before it was torn down in 2020.
The new station would replace the Rockford Fire Department’s Station 10 at 3407 Rural St., which the city says has a backlog of needed repairs. The station is also too small to allow for more growth and its location in a residential area can slow response times, said Fire Chief Michele Pankow.
“We have to be very mindful of the equipment that we put in there because the facility is so small,” Pankow said. “Currently, we run a fire truck and an ambulance out of there and it’s a very, very tight fit.”
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The location in the 3900 block of East State Street would provide easier access for fire trucks and ambulances to respond to where a majority of the calls take place, which is along the East State corridor, Pankow said.
“It gives us a little better access being out on a main thoroughfare versus being in a subdivision in a residential area,” Pankow said. “Overall, it does provide us with a better avenue for response to support operations.”
This week, the city proposed using $10 million from its rainy day fund to go toward building the new fire station. That fund is flush with cash after the city banked more revenue than expected in the past year as economic recovery exceeded its conservative projections.
The city said it also needs to make improvements to the channels for Keith Creek that run under the parking lot.
The Magna grocery store closed in 1997, and the building fell into disrepair as it remained vacant for 23 years. The city seized ownership of the 8-acre site in January 2020 after reaching a settlement with CVS, which owned the property. The nearly 80,000-square-foot building was razed a few months later.
The site is in the city’s Miracle Mile, a business district that runs roughly from UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital to Rockford University.
Paula Olson, executive director of the Miracle Mile Association, said business owners were happy to see the building razed. However, she hopes the construction of the new fire station doesn’t prevent the lot from being used as a festival space. The lot has been used by the Miracle Mile Association and MASA, or Mexico Americanos Saliendo Adelante, for various events with food trucks, music and other activities.
“The fire station is necessary, but we would hate to lose that festival spot,” Olson said.
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Alderman Frank Beach, who represents the 10th Ward that includes the Miracle Mile, said he wants to preserve the lot as a festival space while adding the fire station.
“We need to figure out a way to hold the integrity of that lot as a gathering place for festivals and other things,” Beach said. “I think we can be creative enough to figure out how to fit a fire station into that area.”
The festivals help attract people to the area, where they can discover other businesses in the Miracle Mile, Beach said.
“I think we can make a win-win out of it,” he said.
There’s no timeline set for building the fire station. City Council members are now weighing options for their upcoming budget, including setting aside funding for the fire station.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas