Seminole has approved a $5.9 million contract to build a new fire station in Bay Pines, replacing the current facility with a roughly 7,316-square-foot building featuring two bays on city-owned land along 100th Avenue next to the Walmart shopping center. The City Council approved the contract on October 13, 2026, and authorized the city manager to sign it, moving the long-discussed project from paperwork into construction territory.
According to Tampa Bay Times, the new Proposed Fire Station No. 74 will sit near the Bay Pines Walmart, replacing the aging structure currently serving the area. The approved contract lands notably below the city’s own engineering estimate of $6.5 million, a gap laid out in Seminole’s bid documents for the project.
What the Bid Documents Reveal
A second addendum to the city’s request for proposals, posted on myseminole.com, confirms that plan review for the station is already finished, stating plainly that the project is “ready to issue permits.” The same document specifies that ingress, egress and utility permits will be processed through Pinellas County, though the city notes those permits come at no cost to bidders.
The addendum also clarifies the nature of the contract itself: this is a request for proposals for general construction services, not a construction manager at risk arrangement, and bidders are required to post a bid bond equal to 5% of their proposal. Per the same document, the city confirmed the project will not pursue any LEED certification.
Laydown Space Still Unsettled
One detail left unresolved in the bid paperwork involves staging space during construction. The addendum states that the eastern portion of the neighboring Walmart parking lot is “a possible site” for a laydown area, but adds there was “nothing in writing at this time” confirming any arrangement with the retailer.
That uncertainty sits alongside the rest of the project’s otherwise detailed planning, since the same bid document that lays out permit costs, bond requirements and the engineering estimate stops short of confirming whether any formal laydown agreement was ever reached.
Part of a Broader County Building Push
Seminole’s project arrives amid a wave of fire station construction and renovation activity across Pinellas County. In Largo, the reconstruction of Fire Station 39 was completed as a 10,440-square-foot facility and described by Penny for Pinellas as the first of several new stations planned for that city. Meanwhile, St. Pete Beach has been reported by the Business Observer to be planning a $10.5 million storm-resistant replacement for its Fire Station 22, which was damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, with $6.5 million of that cost covered by state funding.
Other recent builds in the county illustrate the range of what these facilities can look like. A Pinellas Park fire station dedicated in 2022 was described by 1stResponderNews as a 13,400-square-foot facility with 10 bedrooms, six bathrooms and a four-bay garage, considerably larger than what’s planned for Bay Pines. Pinellas County also maintains a public map of fire districts and station locations across the region.
For now, the Bay Pines project remains in the pre-construction phase, with the project ready for permits to be issued ahead of construction on the new two-bay station serving the neighborhood near the Walmart shopping center.
