The City of Gaffney is on the verge of awarding a lucrative contract to a contractor to renovate the former downtown post office building.

It was announced at Friday's city Building and Grounds Committee meeting that five contractors submitted their qualifications for the $1.5 million project. Those contractors are SYS Contractors, Sossamon Construction, M.B. Kahn/Argo Division, Hoke Enterprises and Triangle Construction.

SYS, Kahn and Triangle are based in Greenville. Hoke's offices are in Earl, N.C. while Sossamon is the only local contractor.

The purpose of prequalifying contractors is to ensure the contractor is up to the project. To that end, the contractors submitted their credentials, current workload, staffing and familiarity with similar-type projects.

The committee then agreed to authorize project architect David Dixon to make follow-up contact with the contractors and come up with a recommendation. That recommendation should be in council's hands within a few weeks.

The contractor will be responsible for Phase III of the post office project, which includes the general renovation of the building.

Phase I of the project - asbestos removal - has begun. The roof will be replaced as part of Phase II.

The city will use Hospitality Tax revenue and a remaining portion of a state grant to pay for the renovations. Most of the $400,000 state grant was used to purchase the building from a North Carolina businessman.