Alamance County’s commissioners have selected an architect to redesign a decommissioned bank building along South Main Street in Graham to serve as a new home for the county’s elections office.
During a regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday, the commissioners unanimously awarded a contract to Durham-based RND Architects to design and oversee the renovation of this building at 1128 South Main Street, which had formerly served as a branch of Alamance National Bank.
The commissioners selected RND for this job at the behest of Alamance County’s interim manager Sherry Hook, who recommended the firm over three other contenders based on their respective qualifications.
According to the county, the runners up for this contract were Osterlund Architects, Hobb Architects, and Peterson/Gordon Architects.
The agreement which the commissioners went on to approve promises RND a sum of $83,810 to design a new, expanded floor plan for the 10,200 square foot building, assist the county in its selection of a contractor to renovate the facility, and oversee the contractor’s work.
The agreement notes that the county has set a budget of $850,000 for this project, which is expected to last no more than 18 months before the newly refurbished building is ready for use.
The county formally purchased this one-time bank building in February in order to provide a centralized site for its elections office, whose operations are currently scattered across several locations in Burlington and Graham. The county’s administrators had zeroed in on this building after the unexpected sale of an old pharmacy along Harden Street in Burlington that they had been leasing for election-related purposes with the intention of ultimately buying the site.
After several months of back-and-forth with the bank building’s owner, the county agreed to purchase the property for $925,000 – or about $65,000 below its current assessed tax value.
