PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — When Johanna Albanese moved to her current home, located off Seven Springs Boulevard a few miles southeast of New Port Richey, she immediately felt safe.
Across the street from her subdivision was Pasco County Fire Rescue’s Station 17.
Albanese, whose late daughter was quadriplegic, needed their help several times.
“I would still be on the phone, and they would be at the door,” the 87-year-old remembered. “They would come, and they would help me with her — picking her up, putting her back in bed.”
In June of 2021, that crew was relocated, but Albanese didn’t fret. The relocation was supposed to be temporary to allow the county time and space to build a newer, bigger, better fire station on the same Seven Springs Boulevard site.
“This new fire station area will serve the residents of Pasco County with better coverage and faster response times to their neighborhoods,” Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said during a groundbreaking ceremony at the time.
Two years later, the new station is still not open, and after months of work, the construction has stalled.
“There’s nothing going on,” Albanese said. “Everybody’s frustrated here. There are a lot of people that are impaired in [my neighborhood].”
The new station has a metal roof and walls but lacks windows, floors, and driveways. Most concerning to Albanese and others, it also lacks construction workers.
“It’s boarded up,” she said. “It’s an abandoned building.”
As ABC Action News has learned, the project is not abandoned but in limbo.
According to federal court documents, the Orlando-based contractor managing the project, R L Burns, Inc., has been in dire financial straits for months, wasn’t paying subcontractors hired to build the station, got sued by its performance bonding company, and then filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on June 2. An attorney for the company declined to comment.
According to Pasco County, R L Burns has been removed from the project.
“Due to R L Burns, Inc.’s lack of performance on the Fire Station 17 project, Pasco County issued a "Letter of Default" to the contractor and notified the bonding company,” a spokesperson for Pasco County wrote in part. “The courts ruled that the bonding company can take over the project.”
Now, in an effort to revive the construction, the county and bonding company are looking for a new contractor to finish the job.
“Bids are expected to be received by the end of next week,” the county spokesperson wrote. “After bids are opened, Pasco County and the bonding company will determine the appropriate method to proceed with completing the project.”
Albanese has been calling the county periodically for updates.
“I’d like it to be done!” she exclaimed. “The last call I made, they said that it’s going to be 300 days more before it gets done.”
While the county did not give ABC Action News an estimated completion date for the station, it expects work will resume later this summer. However, that could change “considering various moving parts.”
The construction of the new station is vital in a rapidly growing county trying to reduce its response times. If and when complete, Station 17 will serve 30,000 people in the Seven Springs community between New Port Richey and Trinity.
Rick McDonald is hopeful for the project’s completion.
“There’s enough general contractors in this area that will finish it, for sure,” he said. “They’re just going to need somebody who knows what the hell they’re doing.”
McDonald, the owner of Pasco Stucco, provided stucco work for the project. According to McDonald, R L Burns failed to provide the $52,000 owed for his work. He says he was forced to sue the bonding company to receive that payment roughly eight months after the stucco work was done.
McDonald, a Pasco County taxpayer, was also disappointed by the county’s involvement. Because of the agreed-upon performance contract, he says the county could not help him collect his payment.
“I felt the county wasn’t looking out for me,” he said.
JJ Martinez, a representative of Pasco County Professional Firefighter (IAFF 4420), is also hoping for an expeditious resolution to the pause in construction.
“We’re frustrated with station build times throughout the county,” he said. “Our crews have been displaced for more than a year.”
