All the appliances are new and there's a sweeping view of the Old Mill Green and the playing field for nearby Marin School.

But don't start asking about the monthly rent yet. The building is the city's new fire station for Engine Co. 10 and Ladder Co. 10 on Boston Avenue.

After missing the initial completion date of May 2005, the station is expected to finally be completed by the middle of this month, said Fire Chief Brian P. Rooney. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for a subsequent Saturday in March.

"We're just waiting for incidentals to be fixed," Rooney said during a tour of the new facility last week.

"This is state-of-the-art and we're looking forward to moving in here," he said.

Even the locker room is not typical, with a system to keep the air fresh and dry and cage-lockers to allow firefighters' wet gear to dry, the chief said.

Completion of the new station is a story of frustration and patience.

The New York City construction firm that started the building abandoned the job in early June 2005 — a month after the project was supposed to be completed. Subsequent wrangling over the company's forfeited bond added months to the delays.

In December 2005, M.A. New England LLC of Trumbull was hired to finish the job, and that firm's name, not the first firm's, is on the new station's plaque.

The $2.5 million building, the city's first new fire station since the early 1980s, replaces a firehouse on Putnam Street built more than a century ago when fire vehicles were horse-drawn.

It's a skinny brick building with cobblestone floors that helped give the horses traction.

"The floors are pitched for the horse urine to go into the drain," Rooney observed.

There's also a hayloft that was converted into a locker room.

The Putnam Street station has housed Engine Co. 10 and Ladder Co. 10, both of which will be moving to the new station.

"Engine 10 is the busiest company in the city," Rooney said.

Firefighter Ray Rodriguez has mixed feelings about moving after serving his 18-year-career in the Putnam Street station.

"I'm going to miss it. It's old. It has a lot of character. There's a lot of history here," he said.

He might not have to worry about preserving the history.

Rooney said they hope to refurbish the old firehouse and convert it into a museum for the Bridgeport Fire Department Historical Society, and a fire-safety education center for children.

But Rodriguez is also unsure about the private bedrooms, after spending so much time in a communal room.

"You get the camaraderie," he said.

But, he added, looking at the chipped paint on the old station's walls, "the accommodations are going to be better."

In a way, going to the new quarters will be a homecoming for the veteran firefighter.

The new station is built on the former site of several multi-unit apartment houses, where his company battled many fires in the 1990s, Rooney said. The city razed them to build it and the ball field.

The new station's location is another selling point. The Marin field is visible through the training room windows, adding a bit of security for young players on the field, the chief said.

Players and spectators at the field can use bathrooms attached to the firehouse, said George Estrada, the city's public facilities director.

The field and firehouse are part of a larger $7.2 million proposal, conceived in 1999, including a library and community center, said Mayor John M. Fabrizi.

Fabrizi said he, the City Council and the city's delegation in Hartford are hoping to line up funding for the rest of the project.

"That is definitely on the radar screen," Fabrizi said.

Aaron Leo, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6222.