A developer is interested in purchasing the old west end fire station on LeMarchant Road.

The capital city issued a Request for Proposals and has selected an applicant.

The building has tentatively been tagged with heritage designation at the request of the proponent, but the property has not yet officially changed hands.

The old Grace Hospital connects with the fire station land, and there is still some work to do to square up the lot.

Councillor Maggie Burton, who’s in charge of heritage, says it’s a unique building with stables in the basement, as when the station opened at the close of WWII, the city had only one snowplow and that was not considered to be sufficient in an emergency such as a fire – thus the need for horses.

Burton has been asked why the need to grant heritage designation to a building constructed after the 19th Century, but she says modern architecture, including City Hall, is worthy of such designation.