Town receives four bids for new police department headquarters

Purchasing Agent Cindy Hartman conducted the bid opening Thursday, surrounded by Dustin Construction’s Brooke Hood, Mayor Hollis Tharpe, Moseley Architect’s Chris Roman and Interim Police Chief Bruce Hite. / Photo: Mike McCool

The Town of Front Royal on Thursday received four bids to build the new Front Royal Police Department Headquarters.

Cynthia A. Hartman, purchasing agent for the town, conducted a bid opening at Town Hall Thursday afternoon. In attendance were Mayor Hollis Tharpe, Interim Police Chief Bruce Hite, Captain Kevin Nicewarner, representatives from the bidding companies, as well as Chris Roman, of Moseley Architects, the firm tasked with designing the new complex.

Bids received include:

Dustin Construction, Ijamsville, MD                                               $7,736,001.00
Lantz Construction Co. of Winchester, Winchester, VA                     $7,800,000.00
Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc.                                                        $7,869,001.00
Keller Brothers, Mount Airy, MD                                                     $8,262,250.00

Discussion over the past year has seen construction and site work estimates in the $7-million range, with total project costs estimated at over $9 million.

The bids represent the construction phase only. They do not include any of the incidental purchases that will be needed to outfit the building, such as the IT equipment, desks, etc. Hartman said that a contract would not be awarded until all bids are reviewed for compliance with Town of Front Royal specifications.

Town Council, on March 13 of this year, voted 5-1 to authorize Moseley Architects to advertise for construction bids of a new police department headquarters once funding was finalized through the New Market Tax Credit Program.

Moseley Architects presented its final project design, slated for construction at Monroe Avenue and Kendrick Lane, at council’s March 6 work session. At that time a project cost of $9,313,422 was cited.