In re United States Commission to Appraise Washington Market Co.

295 F. 950, 54 App. D.C. 129, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3260
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedFebruary 5, 1924
DocketNo. 685
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 295 F. 950 (In re United States Commission to Appraise Washington Market Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re United States Commission to Appraise Washington Market Co., 295 F. 950, 54 App. D.C. 129, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3260 (D.D.C. 1924).

Opinion

VAN ORSDEL, Associate Justice.

This appeal is from an award of a commission appointed to appraise and fix the valuation of the buildings and improvements belonging to the Washington Market Company.

Reservation No. 7, where the market under consideration is now situated, was set aside as a market site on the plan of the original city as approved by Gen. Washington. In October, 1802, the city council passed an act establishing a market thereon, and from that time to the present the site has been used for market purposes.

By Act of Congress of May 20, 1870 (16 Stat. 124), the Washington Market Company was incorporated, with authority to construct buildings and make improvements for the conduct of a market on the site so reserved. The capital stock of the corporation was fixed at $1,000,000, with the further provision that, when not less than 50 per cent, of the stock had been subscribed upon the books of the company, the company would be authorized to organize by the election of officers.

The act provided for the purchase, condemnation, or removal by the company of the buildings and fixtures situated on the land. The company was required, within 60 days after securing quiet and peaceful possession of the real estate to commence work thereon, and to complete the erection of the market buildings within a period of not more than 2 years. It was further provided that the privileges conferred should be enjoyed by the company for a term of 99 years, unless sooner terminated by forfeiture for failure to comply with the terms of the act.' It was, however, provided that if the corporation of the city of Washington, after a period of 30 years from the approval of the act, should desire to take over the market buildings and grounds, authority to do so might be conferred by act of Congress, providing that the corporation should be paid “a sum of money equal to a fair and just valuation of the buildings and improvements then standing on said grounds, and the mode and manner of ascertaining such valuation shall be determined by Congress.”

The corporation was required to pay to the city of Washington the sum of $25,000 annually, to be set apart and expended by the city government for the support and relief of the poor.

Attached to the act and made a part thereof were explicit specifications as to materials and workmanship required in the construction of the buildings. The foundations were to consist of blue stone masonry laid in cement mortar, erected upon solid natural ground or piled foundations as the conditions might require. The superstructure was to be erected according to a costly and elaborate0 plan.; “all principal partitions of entrance story to be constructed of brick work; the fronts of the stores to consist mainly of French plate glass of first quality, set in hardwood finish.” ' The wood and iron work, as well as the plumbing, painting, and roofing, were all specified to be constructed of expensive materials and in an elaborate style. The first story was to be arranged for a large and open market hall, prepared. to receive convenient large-sized and tasty modern market stalls not less than 20 feet high. Indeed, the specifications, as set forth in [952]*952the original act, required the construction of the buildings on a most elaborate and expensive scale.

No forfeiture for failure to comply with the terms of the act has ever been attempted to be enforced against the Market Company, nor did the corporation of Washington attempt at any time to exercise the right conferred upon it of condemning and taking over the property after 30 years from the approval of the act.

It appears that the present market was erected at a total cost of approximately $1,060,000. The erection of the permanent buildings was begun early in 1871, and the main portion of the market establishment was completed in the summer of 1872, being opened for business on July 1st of that year. Various modifications, extensions, and installments of machinery, including a large cold storage plant, followed the" erection of the original buildings extending down to about 1920, or, as concisely summarized in the report of the minority commissioner :

“The original main building of one-story construction on Seventh, B, and Ninth streets was erected about the year 1873. A one-story construction of Wholesale Bow, on the north side, was erected about 1878, and at the same time the newer and ornamental fronts of Seventh and Ninth street wings were put up, consisting of additional walls about 3 feet from the old plain faced walls. Beginning about 1887 the cold storage, plant was installed, including the refrigeration building, and from that time on up to within the last year or two numerous additions have been made, including.the second! story of the B street wing as part of the development of the cold storage. The upper part of the Ninth street 'wing was an improvement of 1888 or 1889; the second and third floors of the Wholesale Row and upper part of the Seventh street wing were improvements of about 1898 or 1899; the ice tank building and its equipment were an improvement of 1903-04; the rear addition to Wholesale. Row was an improvement of 1915 or 1916.”

The area used for market purposes, exclusive of courts and driveways, is about 2% acres. The market contains about 1,000 stalls and spaces for retail dealers, with cold storage rooms containing approximately 400,000 cubic feet, and refrigerated by 10 miles of heavy 2-inch iron brine piping.

By the Act of Congress of March 4, 1921 (41 Stat. 1441), entitled “An act to repeal and annul certain parts of the charter and lease' granted and made to the. Washington Market Company by act of Congress entitled ‘An act to incorporate the Washington' Market Company/ approved May 20, 1870,” Congress declared it to be the “purpose and intent of the United States to annul and hold for naught the lease made by Congress to the Washington Market Company, of reservation .numbered seven, in the District of Columbia, and to take over unto its own ownership, use, occupancy, and control the said grounds and buildings and improvements thereon and therein now held and occupied by the said Market Company and its tenants.”

By the act appropriation was made for the payment of the amount awarded the Market Company, and provision was made for the vesting of the possession and control of the grounds, buildings, and improvements in the Secretary of Agriculture for the benefit of the United States, to be rented by the Secretary, and the business continued as a market under rules and regulations to be promulgated by the [953]*953Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary is empowered to lease the stalls and spaces in said market and to employ persons and purchase such materials as may be essential to the proper operation and maintenance of the property.

Coming to the provisions of the act directly concerned, provision was made for the appointment by the President of the United States of a commission to be composed of “three disinterested men, not more than one of whom shall be a resident of the District of Columbia, to appraise the said buildings and improvements thereon and therein, which were erected or made at the expense of the Washington Market Company, and which stand and remain upon said reservation; the valuation thereof to be determined as of the date of filing said award; and the finding of a majority of said commission shall constitute the award.” In case of a dissent by a member of. the commission, it was provided that a minority report in writing should be filed and made part of the record.

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Bluebook (online)
295 F. 950, 54 App. D.C. 129, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3260, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-united-states-commission-to-appraise-washington-market-co-dcd-1924.