NORWICH – The third floor of the City of Norwich fire station is slated for a face lift, thanks to grant funding recently awarded through a state-run program.

According to city officials, the third floor of the fire station may finally be completed as early as spring. The presently vacant space has been largely unfinished since the city paid to have the building refurbished in the early 2000’s and the fire department moved back into the building from its temporary location on Borden Avenue in 2004.

Funding for the project comes by way of the State and Municipalities Capital Program to help cities, towns and villages across the state perform local upgrades and maintenance. State Senator Tom Libous (R-52nd Senatorial District) announced this month that he has secured $100,000 to be received by the City of Norwich through the program which will allow the city to complete renovations to the third floor.

Norwich Mayor Joseph Maiurano said the vast space is likely to be used as a multi-purpose room that can accommodate training events of area profit and nonprofit organizations, fire training for Norwich and other surrounding departments, political gatherings, and refuge space for residents during weather related emergencies.

“Once it’s completed, we hope to have an area that would be useful for many things,” Maiurano said, adding that the space needs to be code compliant before it’s open to the public. “The first thing we need to do is have it finished. Once it’s finished, then we’ll have a lot of opportunities. We want to do as much as possible to utilize that money productively.”

While not open for public use, the third floor has been taken advantage of by paid and volunteer firefighters for training exercises, said Fire Chief Tracy Chawgo. In addition to continuing those exercises, he said hopes are to include multimedia capabilities, including a large screen and projector, that will allow further training.