VILLAS – A contract to restore the circa 1729 Judge Nathaniel Foster House, on Bayshore Road, in Villas, was awarded to Dell-Tech, Inc. at the Aug. 3 Lower Township Council meeting.
Bids to restore the pink house, near the Villas Fire Hall, were originally rejected when they came in over projected costs.
The winning bid of $394,700 will be paid from a county Open Space award of $240,000 and $154,700 from the municipality’s Neighborhood Revitalization Fund, according to Lower Township Manager James Ridgway.
Previously, the municipality received a $15,000 Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund Historic Site Management Grant to help fund the preparation of a National Register nomination and conditions assessment.
When the Nathaniel Foster House faced private sale and demolition, in 2015, the Cape May County Historical Society sold the property to the county Open Space program, which leased the property to Lower Township for preservation purposes.
Councilman Robert Conrad, who spearheaded the process to save the building, said, “Finally, it’s going to be redone.”
Work will include replacement of the roof and repair of water damage inside the structure.
Ridgway said the project should be completed by December.
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