The City of Fayetteville invited the community to the Fayetteville-Cumberland Regional Entrepreneur & Business HUB on Thursday, Jan. 8, to discuss the future Fire Station 16 project. 

Attendees were able to learn about the plans, ask questions and provide feedback directly to representative Johnathan Best with Barr & Barr Construction, who will be working on the project. 

The current Fire Station #16 is a single-engine company station housed in a temporary station leased to the City from Cape Fear Medical Center. This station covers the Cedar Creek community. 

“This is going to be our first major fire station project in about seven years, so we're excited to get it underway and to get it finished,” shared Deputy Fire Chief of Administration Jonathan Ferguson. “It's been a long time coming for this area of the city. The unit has been in service since 2011, but it's only been in a temporary station since 2016. So almost 10 years they've been in that temporary facility. We're ready to see it finished and get our firefighters into a permanent location.” 

The new fire station will be located at the corner of Cedar Creek Road and Fields Road, which is more centralized in the response district than the current temporary facility. According to details shared at the event, the new building will be roughly 10,500 square feet and will include community spaces such as a community room and playground. 

“Everything's in place, the construction manager at risk is in place, the architect is in place. Now they're getting their packages together to go out to the actual contract subcontractors to put shovels in the ground and get going,” shared Fayetteville Fire Chief Kevin Dove. “This is a community project; this building is for the community.”

Construction is expected to start in May of 2026 and be officially open to the community in May of 2027. One of the main goals of the event was to highlight the need for local contractors to get involved.  

“We have a very aggressive goal of 45% community impact, and so that's local, small minority businesses, and we really want them in Cumberland County,” shared Jonathan Best, director of strategic engagement at Barr & Barr Construction. “This project was funded through bond dollars, so [the] more people that are inside the City of Fayetteville that are on this project, they help further it along. “We're looking for contractors; concrete, masonry, steel, painting, drywall, framing, flooring, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, site work, all things that you can think about for a new building.” 

According to Best, prequalifying applications will open on Jan. 19 and remain open until Feb. 6. A website, www.Fayettevillefirestation16.info, is currently in the works and is expected to open in the coming weeks; it will contain more information about the project.

Interested contractors can contact Best at 919-664-3779 or via email at jbest@barrandbarr.com