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Low U.S. Building Bid $3.3 Million

Low U.S. Building Bid $3.3 Million image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
June
Year
1975
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Low U.S.
Building Bid
$3.3 Million

BY ROY REYNOLDS
News Staff Reporter

R.E. Dailey & Co. of Detroit is the ap-
parent low bidder, at $3,350,000, for con-
struction of a new federal building which
will house government offices and a new
main Post Office in downtown Ann Ar-
bor.

Eleven bids for the project were
opened Thursday- at the General Services
Adrn office in Chicago.
The bma ii^mw u^iiiolition of existing
structures on the federal building site,
covering all but the southern portion of
the block bound by S. Fifth Ave., E.
Liberty St., S. Fourth Ave. and E. Wil-
liam St.

The ov< et is $7.3 mil-
lion, of \vi .iiion has been
spent by GSA for design and site acquisi-
tion.

Signing of the demolition-construction
contract is expected within 30 days, fol-
lowing detailed analysis of the bids and
standard checking on the low bidder's
credit, Benjamin Copenhaver, GSA di-
rector of business affairs in Chicago,
said this morning. Construction is ex-
pected to take two years.

The next-lowest bids were submitted
by Darin & Armstrong of Detroit, at $3,
545,000; Brencal Contractors In. of De-
troit at $3,560,000;: Barton-Malow Co. of
Detroit at $3,569,800, Copenhaver report-
ed.

The opening - 7 completes the ini-
tial step in a (hat was first an-
nounced in January, 1973, '^yed
periodically because of qu; con-
cerning and legal aspects of
relocating ^.-....i-ss firms and residences
from the site.

A U.S. District Court order, providing
for federal possession at 6 p.m. Saturday
of the last previously unacquired proper-
ty on the site, at 326 S. Fifth Ave., was
issued only on June 2. Prices GSA is to
pay are still not finally settled in connec-
tion with all properties to be raised.
These include the old Masonic Temple
on S. Igpurth Ave.

Tho ltv." on the block's southern por-
i ; be affected by the new pro-
ject.

When completed, the new federal
building will be a four-story structure
facing E. Liberty. Walls will not rise
four stories vertically, but will be
stepped back at each floor level. The
architects are Tarapata, MacMahon and
Paulsen of Birmingham. Other work by
that firm includes Washtenaw Communi-
ty College's campus master plan and
buildings on E. Huron River Dr.

Agencies definitely expected to occupy
space in the new building in addition to
' ' stal Service are the Interior
ii^i;itent, the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare and the Agricul-
ture Department, the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare and the
Agriculture Department. Space will be
•'• iuded for future installation of a U.S.
District Court. The old main Post Office
at N. Main and Catherine is expected to
'' •••'-•" nd The present main Post Office '
iadium will become a branch.

The concept of a government structure
in the block to be occupied by the federal
building is not new. One of the earliest
plans of downtown Ann Arbor, published
in 1836, called for construction of the
county jail at that location. That plan
was never implemented.