St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-10
REAL ESTATE OWNERS ON
THE VALUE OF PROP
ERTY
ABOUT TO BE CONDEMNED
FOR, PARK PURPOSES ON LAKE
PHALEN-REMARK
VARIANCE
and Those who Have to Pay
for 1t.

L ne dllDl testimony OIL the man VINO
swears he wasn't there when the deed
was done never contradfcted the testi-
mony Of the complaining witness more
positively than did the testimony be-
fore the board of public works yes
terday of the owners of the land to
be taken for Phalen park give the lie
to that of the gentlemen whose prop
erty is to be assessed to pay for that
land. 1t was an interesting hearing.
The real estate experts crossed swords
with each other as to values of land,
but as all the parties were more or
less interested either in swelling or
depreciating the values, no definite in
formation as to the real value could
be CLEANED from their testimony. The
substance of it was as follows:
In the forenoon the board took the
testimony of Reuben Warner, the
owner of a five-acre piece in lot 5,
which piece fronts on Lake Phalen
and also that of r. F. Marvin, a real
estate expert, called by the owners of
the property. Mr.. Warner testified
that he regarded his five acres worth
$4,000 per acre, and estimated the re-
naming seventeen acres of lot at
$500 an acre. Mr.. Warner valued
the remaining seventy-four acres
constituting lots and 4 at from 81, $50
to $1,000 an acre. Upon these figures
Mr.. Warmers valuation of the entire
nlnety-siX acres to be taken amount
ed to 1854, 80. Mr.. Marvins estimate,
while not so high as to Mr. Warmers
hVe acres, which he valued at only
S2,5oO an acre, aggregated for the
whole tract, $194,7OO.
j. Z. HorriSan, eX-member of the
board of public works, was called the
hfst thing in the afternoon. Mr. Hor-
rlgan appeared as a witness for the
owners of the property. His valua-
tlon OF the ninety-siX acres was S194.-
$780,
Then the board listened to some tes-
tlmony on the other Side-that is. on
the part of the owners of neighboring
property to be assessed for this i'm
proVement. This was quite different.
Robert Bryant was the first witness.
MI. Bryant was the most liberal in
MS estimate of the value of the nine
ty-slX acres. He conceded it was
worth on an average of 81, 900 an acre.
which was a trifle less than half the
valuation placed upon the land by
the owners and their witnesses. C. w.
Hofr, who owns property just within
the confines of the assessment dis
trlct and therefore not subject to a
heaVy assessment, questioned Mr. Bry-
ant and the other witnesses with as
much eagerness as though the actual
ute 10 his own property were at
stake, and smiled audibly whenever
an owner CT assessable property de-
ciared he didn't consider the land to
be taken for Phalen park a sacred
plot of ground, to be excepted from
the general depreciation in value that
affected other property.
ON THE OTHER SIDE.
Pat Kavanagh cross-examined the
depreciators, but they turned a deaf
ear TO Mr.. kavanagh's poetic illusions
10 the surprising beauty of Lake
Phalen's sheltering shore, and the
more Patrick praised the picturesque
spot, the more the unappreciative own
ers OF assessable property grinned. and
lowered their estimates of its value.
John A. SteeS, who followed Mr. Brv-
ant, proved totally unsusceptible TO
the glowing description of the beauty
OF the future Phalen park Mr. .Stees
owns some property that will be as
sessed for this Improvement, and
without exhibiting a trace of sorrow, he
smlllngly estimated the entire ninety
six acres to be worth not more than
S6S, $50. His highest estimate Der acre
was only $500, and his lowest $3.50. In
the course of his testimony Mr.. Stees
admitted, in reply to Mr. Kavanagh.
that If he had a piece of land worth
$1,000, he would accept $1,000 for it if
anybody wanted to give him that sum-
j. R. Heide, another assessable prop
erty owner, didn't think the tract was
worth over S77,6G0. Two years ago.
however, during the panic, Mr. Weide's
testimony as to this very land, placed
much higher estimate on it. fact to
which President German called his at.
tention, for the board of public works
keeps a copy of all testimony
The last witness examined was R. B.
Lewis, who valued the ninety-six acres
at S70,S5O. The hearing was then ad-
journed until 10 a. m. today.
Thus far the testimony of all the wit
nesses, including MI Kavanagh and
Samuel E. Dawson, the owners of the
majority of the property to be taken,
who valued it at $209,4 and $2O9, 900,
respectively, shows the average of the
estimates to be $135, 040, approximately
or about $1,400 an acre. After the hear
ing is concluded, the board of public
works will examine the property to be
taken, and the members will form their
own estimate of its value.