Land Buyer Denies Government Story

Land Buyer Denies
Government Story
BY ROY REYNOLDS Her 1973 purchase was made, she ad-
News Staff Reporter 'ded, because the owner of office space
Attorney Pauline R. Rothmeyer denied she previously rented on S. Division
Tuesday that she purchased property at needed that property for another use.
R. with knowledge it wou 'r said when s! >d 326 S.
pi i uf the new federal building i-^.. *-e. would become nu^ul proper-
=Kly, an option she had held on another po-

-;ite. .

She also denied demanding a price of
$16,000 beyond the government's offer for
the property.

tential downtown location for her office
had expired.

'" " i n>yer said that in the court case

:.uduced the order for federal
possession of 326 S. Fifth Ave. at the end
of this week, she sought an order which
would have require ernment "to
buy a downtown buna...o ior me at the
same interest I'm paying here, 6 per
cent, to which my tenants and I could
move."

""e said she feels a major reason for

ys which have caused at least two
deferrals of construction bid openings for
the federal building was delay by GSA in
filing a report on the project's environ-
mental impact, as required by federal
law.

Her comments conflict with
federal attorney Samuel J. Behringer Jr.
made, as reported Tuesday, after U.S.
District. Judge Philip Pratt stipulated
that the federal government will take
possession of 326 S. Fifth Ave. at 6 p.m.
Saturday. The court order completes the
process of property acQuisition under
way for several months at the f ' •'
building site, in the block bound

Fifth Ave., E. Liberty,- S. Fourth Ave.
and E. William. Construction bids will
be opened Thursday at the General Ser-
vices Administration (GSA) office in Chi-
cago.

Behringer said Rothmeyer bought the
property at 326 S. Fifth Ave. in June.
1973. "with knowledge it was to become
federal property," six months after an
initial report on the federal building site
selection appeared in The News. He also

lid the government has offered $52,000

ir the property, and the asking price is

;i ? • i yer, replying to efforts by The
News to contact her for comment Mon-
day and earlier Tuesday, said she signed
a sales agreement for 326 S. Fifth Ave.
on June 12,1973.

Notification that the property woi;

needed for the federal building site was
received eight days later by the Realtor
"ho handled the 'orrie Dalitz, by
surmer owner K .11 shoemaker, and
herself, she added.

"I didn't sign the sales agreement
knowing it would be federal property. I
signed it believing it wouldn't be," she
said.

She also said she has not requested a
specific price from the government. She
said she has told federal officials she
seeks "whatever the person next door is
going to get," adding, "I haven't entered
into any negotiations with P"h>ringer.
There isn't, as far as I'm d, any
$16.""" — "

|T un thefedi d-
ing site in The News on Jan. 12, 1973,
contained a statement that property
which would not be included in that site
included "several houses on the Fifth
Avenue side." That statement, like Roth-
meyer's, was based on information prov-
ided by Dalitz.