GUILDERLAND — A bid for the first phase of a $5.27 million new Westmere firehouse project will be awarded on Oct. 4.

The old firehouse, built in 1956, will be torn down, and the new firehouse is slated to be complete by the spring of 2012.

The Westmere Fire District, with a firehouse at 1741 Western Ave., covers 2,700 homes, eight apartment complexes, three schools, four churches, and Crossgates Mall, and levies taxes on properties within its boundaries to pay for equipment, maintenance, and training. Once the new firehouse is complete, a tax increase of 24 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, for those living in the district, will take effect.

The new building will occupy roughly the same footprint as the old one, but will increase in square footage, from 15,000 to 22,000. It will sit several feet further back from Western Avenue, and have wider truck bays; energy-efficient heating and cooling; more office space; modern meeting rooms; and separate men’s and women’s bathrooms and showers.

Fire Commissioner John Keimer told The Enterprise in February that the new firehouse will be functional for at least the next 50 years.

The bid for phase one of the project will be awarded at a special meeting at the fire district, at 1741 Western Ave., at 4:30 p.m, on Oct. 4.

— Anne Hayden