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Albemarle City Council has approved DWA, Inc. to help reconstruct and renovate four units in Amhurst Gardens that sustained substantial damage from a fire last October.

No one was injured and city staff quickly got together to make sure affected residents had new housing and notified HUD of the damage, according to public housing director N. Lee Staton.

Having already had an existing contract with Stogner Architecture, based in Rockingham, the company was contacted and commissioned to create drawings for what needed to be done for the damaged units, Staton told council.

After receiving the drawings in April, city staff reviewed them and created a bid process for the reconstruction and renovation of the units. The project was advertised in May.

A bid date of June 16, was set for public bid opening. Only two bids were received, though, per city policy, three were required. The two bids were returned to the general contractors and a re-bid was set and advertised.

Three bids were received, with DWA, Inc. out of Troy coming in at the the lowest with $552,500. The other two were significantly higher: HEMCO Properties, LLC with $633,999 and Miles-McClellan with $782,800.

Both public housing staff and Stogner Architecture recommended DWA, Inc. for the project. The council unanimously approved DWA’s bid.