West View hires architect for new municipal complex, fire department garage

West View is moving forward with preparations for a new municipal complex and fire department garage.

The borough will pay EOS Studio Arc $28,760 for design services for the complex. It will consist of a repurposing of the existing West View Firemen’s Banquet Hall and the adjacent area now home to Scholl’s Bicycle Center.

The borough has a sales agreement to buy the bicycle center from brothers Dave and Ken Scholl, who are closing their shop and retiring after running the business founded by their parents in 1955.

Dave Scholl said he was anticipating the store to close sometime the week of Sept. 15.

The borough expects to demolish the bicycle shop building by the end of the year, borough Manager Bruce Fromlak said.

The borough also had a verbal commitment, but no sales agreement, to acquire the former Grotto Bar & Grille at 403 Perry Highway, but that property is not needed for the project, Fromlak said.

The $3 million project will see the banquet hall turned into the borough’s new administrative office and police station, with a new, four-bay fire station built on the Scholl’s property.

Game Masters, a tenant in the banquet hall, will remain there.

The borough would begin seeking bids early next year. Construction is expected to take about 14 months, with projected completion in June 2027.

The borough’s offices currently are located in a strip building on Perry Highway that has other storefronts, including a Dollar General, the West View Hub and District Judge Richard G. Opiela. The borough will put the building up for sale, Fromlak said.

The borough is considering keeping the parking lot at the southern end of the building to keep it as public parking, he said.