GSA Offers Four Historic Michigan Lighthouses for Sale

July 10, 2017

For immediate release – July 10, 2017

CHICAGO – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announces the public sale of four Michigan lighthouses as part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA) program’s effort to find new owners for these historic structures.  

The following lighthouses are available for public sale starting July 26, 2017:

• Detroit River Light, built in 1885, is a 55 foot offshore light located approximately two miles offshore in Lake Erie, and marks the entrance to the Detroit River. The light's crib is shaped like the front of a boat to break ice that travels from the Detroit River.
• 
  Fourteen Foot Shoal Light, built in 1929, was named for the shallow 14 foot deep water that exists where the light is built. The 36 foot offshore light is white with a red lantern roof and is located at the northern end of Lake Huron, marking a narrow and shallow passage way that ships must navigate to Lake Michigan.
  
• Lansing Shoal Light, constructed in 1928, is located 11 miles north of Beaver Island, Michigan, and aids ships navigating the Straits of Mackinac. The square masonry lighthouse sits upon a square concrete basement supported atop a stone filler timber crib and stands 69 feet high. Lansing Shoal Light was one of the last offshore lights to be built on the Great Lakes.
  
• Poe Reef Light was constructed in 1929, and it is white with black markings and a red roof on its lantern room. The 71 foot light marks a shallow reef for ships heading west to Lake Michigan and works with Fourteen Foot Shoal Light to guide ships safely through this hazardous channel in Lake Huron.

About the Auction
As part of the NHLPA program, GSA is offering the lighthouses through an online auction at realestatesales.gov.
Interested bidders will need to complete an online registration form and submit a deposit. 

These lighthouses occupy Great Lakes Public Trust bottomlands owned by the state of Michigan. The state will require any purchaser to enter into a Private Use Agreement for lease of bottomlands prior to any use or occupancy of a lighthouse. The lighthouses will also serve as an active aid to navigation, which will remain the personal property of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Through this program, proceeds from the public sales go back into the USCG’s Aid to Navigation Fund, which pays for the equipment, maintenance, and resources to continue preservation and maintenance of active lighthouses.

Since 2000, GSA has administered the NHLPA with its partners, the Department of the Interior–National Park Service and USCG. To date, 133 lighthouses have been sold or transferred out of federal ownership, with 78 transferred at no cost to preservationists and 55 sold by auction to the public.