Wheaton to finish restoring fire-damaged Metra station this fall
Wheaton commuters can expect to see the downtown Metra station fully reopened later this fall, nearly a year after an accidental fire broke out in the depot at Front and West streets.
City-hired contractors this week began work to demolish areas of the building heavily damaged by fire, smoke and water. That demolition work will continue through the end of next week before the cleanup and restoration phase of the roughly three-month project begins.
"We're happy to get it going, and we appreciate people's patience," Assistant City Manager John Duguay said. "But now that the demo has actually started, just for everyone's perspective, it's good to see some movement after some of these delays we've had."
In inclement weather, commuters will be able to access portions of the station during the renovation. But when weather conditions allow, the building will be closed in an effort to allow contractors to work faster, Duguay said.
The city leases the station from Union Pacific Railroad and plans to complete the restoration in early November, Duguay said. The project involves painting, repairing joists, replacing ductwork, tiling and electrical and plumbing work.
"The restrooms have to be gutted," Duguay said.
Trains have operated at the downtown Wheaton stop on the Union Pacific West Line since the fire was sparked by a malfunctioning heating unit in a storage and furnace room at the north end of the building.
Commuters have been using a waiting area that reopened as a shelter in January after engineers conducted a structural assessment to determine those areas could be occupied temporarily. The rest of the station - including the ticket office and restrooms - has been off-limits.
This month, Wheaton's insurance carrier approved a contractor's bid to repair the station. The city initially sought bids for permanent repairs in late April and gave contractors one month to submit their proposals, but only one contractor responded.
Crystal Lake-based Tessler Construction made a $396,000 bid, or roughly $100,000 more than what Chubb, Wheaton's insurance provider, had estimated.
Chubb rejected the offer, and the city rebid the work in late June. Wheaton officials also simplified the response format in an effort to draw a wider group of contractors, officials said.
Three companies responded the second time, but Tessler Construction was still the low bidder at a price of $396,809. The other bidders, Maman Corporation and Construction Consulting, offered $493,102 and $510,210, respectively.
Chubb deemed Tessler's bid acceptable. On Aug. 6, the city council authorized an agreement with Tessler to move ahead with the project.