Chapter 314.
1,023 words·~5 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-23/chapter-314-1404481·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 314.— AN ACT to provide for the purchase of a site and the erection of a public building thereon at Detroit, Michigan.March 2, 1885. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Detroit, Mich.Public building.Purchase of site. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to purchase a suitable lot of laud in the city of Detroit, county of Wayne, and State of Michigan, and cause to be erected on the ground so purchased a building suitable for the accommodation of the courts of the United States, of the customhouse, post-office, pension office, and other Government Plans; cost.offices in that city.
The plans, specifications, and full estimates for said building shall be previously made and approved according to law, and shall not exceed for the site and building complete the sum of nine hundred thousand dollars: *Provided*, That the site shall leave the building *Proviso*.unexposed to danger from fire in adjacent buildings by an open space of not less than forty feet, including streets and alleys; and no money appropriated for this purpose shall be available until a valid title to the site for said building shall be vested in the United States, nor until the State of Michigan Title.shall have ceded to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the same, during the time the United States shall be or remain the owner thereof, for all purposes except the administration of the criminal laws of said State and the service of civil process therein*Proviso*.Secretary of Treasury to select site.: *Provided*, That if the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem it advisable to use for said purpose the site now owned by the United States, upon part of which the post-office and customhouse building-now stands, he may do so; and should he further deem said site insufficient, he may enlarge the same by the purchase of additional adjoining ground:*Proviso*. *Provided, however*, That if a new site shall be purchased for said building as hereinbefore authorized it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, after the site for said building shall have been purchased, to cause a plan and specifications of said building to be prepared, which said plan andCost limited. specifications shall not involve an expenditure in the erection and completion of said building and the approaches thereto exceeding the portion of said nine hundred thousand dollars remaining after the site of said building shall have been paid for; and no plan for said building shall be approved by the Plan for building to be rejected if the cost exceed the sum remaining after p a y i u g for site.Secretary of the Treasury involving an expenditure exceeding the sum so remaining after paying for the site of said building: *And provided further*, That nothing herein contained shall be construed in any event to increase the cost of the site and building including approaches, when completed, beyond the sum of nine hundred thousand dollars as provided in this section.
Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury, in the event of the selectionConditional sale of United States property. and purchase under this act of a site other than that now owned and occupied by the United States within said city of Detroit, be, and lie is hereby, authorized and directed to sell at public auction, for cash, after thirty days’ advertisement of the time, place, and terms of sale, the property in the city of Detroit purchased by him for the erection of a 339 FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
SESS. II. CH. 314,315. 1885. public building under and by virtue of an act of Congress approved Maj’ twenty fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled “Au act to provide1882, vol. 22, ch. 187, p. 96. for the erection of a public building at Detroit, Michigan;” and the moneys received from such sale shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. Sec. 3. That in the event of the purchase and use of an entire new site, then, after the erection of the building provided for in the first section of this act, or at such a time as the exigencies and needs of the public business may render such action prudent and desirable, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to sell, at public auction, for cash, and after thirty days’ advertisement of the time, place, and terms of sale, the property or site now owned and occupied by the United States as a post-office, customhouse, and for other offices of the United States; and the moneys received from such sale shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States: *Provided*, That the Secretary*Proviso*.Sale of property delayed at the discretion of Secretary of Treasury.*Proviso*. of the Treasury may, in his discretion, delay the sale of the property referred to in the second section of this act, and offer the same for sale jointly with the property referred to in this section of this act, and in like manner and terms: *Provided further*, That the Secretary of the Treasury, in any and every case of an attempted sale, shall be authorized and empowered to reject any bid which in his opinion shall be lessBid to be rejected if property is undervalued. than the value of the property or part thereof offered for sale under the provisions of this act, and reoffer the same for sale in the manner above provided until the said property shall bring a fair price.
Sec. 4. That an act entitled “An act to provide for the erection of a public building at Detroit, Michigan,” approved May twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two,1882, vol. 22, ch. 187, p. 96, repealed. being chapter one hundred and eighty-seven of volume twenty-two of the Statutes of the United States, is hereby repealed: *Provided*, That*Proviso*. nothing herein contained shall be construed as in any manner affecting the appropriation so far made for the purpose contemplated in that act, but that the same shall be available to be applied in effecting the objects sought under the provisions of this act.
Approved, March 2nd, 1885.