Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-17
|REAL ESTATE GOSSIP
An Active Demand for Business
Property.
TRANSACTIONS OF INTEREST
The Seasons Prospects According to
the Material Men.
BRICK AND MILL EQUIPMENT
Some of the Current Happenings as
Showing the Condition of
the Market.

the Market.
| The announcement made during the week
| of the purchase by the Union Trust Com
| rany of the Colonial Hotel property, at the
] southwest corner of 10Th and II streets, had
| an interest that was quite apart from its
| Importance as transaction in real estate.
his arose from the fact that the sale
| meant the erection of a building and the
| removal of the trust company to the new
locality. When taken in connection with
] other changes in the same section of the
/ city this may be looked upon as an indi-
| cation that another business section of the
city is gradually being developed
| Aside from this phase of the transaction
| the dettils of the deal have large interest.
| owing to the price paid The ground has a
| frontage of ffty-three feet eight inches on
| II street and 161 feet on 18th street, with
a good depth to an alley, the whole contain
| ing nearly 1900 square feet AS the price
| paid was $4,000 the per foot price was a
| little over S2I, which marks the high record
IN realty values in that section of the city.
A Comparison of Prices.
| Ihere have been no very recent transac-
| tons, especially in corner property in that
| locality so that there is no basis of neigh
| borhood comparison. but considering the
| figures paid for property in other business
| sections, it will be seen at once that rela-
| lively the price paid was not a small one
| Inc latest transaction in that neighbor-
hood was the purchase few months ago
| OF the Barton Hotel property on the OPP
| pcsite side of 18th street. This property
| has frontage of 20 feet, with an irregular
depth to an alley, and contains S,221 square
| feet The price paid was about $50 per
| square foot. The adjoining property on the
| north, having frontage of twenty-five feet
and depth of 1876 feet. was sold three years
| ago, and the price then paid reached nearly
81 per square foot.
Proposed New Buildings.
| 1t is the purpose at early date of the
new owners of this property to make I'M
pIovements Mr.. Hibbs who owns the
| southern half will build an office building
E.for the use of his own business as well as
for general pnEposes. while SWartzell.
ttl q .Hensey VII put up building on
the northern half of the ground which will
| be planned exclusively for the use OF their
| own business.
Other Transactions
| Following close upon the heels of the an
| nouncement of these transactions 1t came
| to be known that an option had been given
! on old st. Matthew's Church property and
/ then 1t was also stated that purchase
| had been made of the Ferguson building to
the south of the Colonial Hotel There
| have also been rumors of options having
| been secured other pieces of pronarty
| in the general locality and specially along
| ii street Counting the ground as only Of
| value which is, however. not the case with
the ferguson property the rate paid per
| square FOOT for the option the church
| property was about SOC while for the Fer
guson property the rate was $23
Some good profits have been made on the
| transactions thus far made 1t is under
/ stood that Mr.. Hutchins cleared about
S3OOCO on the sale of the hotel property
! while those who disposed of it a few
| months ago to him made handsome turn
| When the latter bought the hotel in the
year 1898 they paid $4,000. They sold il
| to Mr.. Hutchins for $685. COO
| Major Ferguson bought the property that
| ad1ofns the hotel on the south in 1892 and
| gave In part trade for it his residence on
| Massachusetts avenue between l4th and
10Th streets, which is now the home of the
German embassy, 1t was calculated that
| the 18th street property stood him in the
| transaction a about $50, 900. He is credited
with getting for 1t now $4,000
Gone Into Business.
Mr. David L. Selke, formerly a newspa-
| per man, has gone into the real estate
| business, and has become associated with
| the Willige, Gibbs & Daniel Company His
| familiarity with current transactions and
| the course of values, 1t is stated will be
| of great assistance to him as well as to
|
The Building Market
| From the point of view of the material
| men the coming season is going to be full
| of business for them. 1T is hardly proper
| to speak of the coming season, for II is al
| ready here for in that line of work
| and has been for some weeks. The mild
winter has made 1t possible for outdoor
| work to go on with but few Interruptions,
| so that there has not been the usual inter
! val which is caused by the unsuitableness
| OF the weather for doing outside work.
In ordinary seasons active building opera
| tons are generally resumed about the mid
| die of March but this year that rule has
| not been followed, and the consequence IS
| that the brick makers for example who
| are accustomed at the close of the period
| when they can carry on brick making in
| the open. to have supply to begin the
| next season, are cleaned out of wnateyer
| they had last fall
| The Demand for Brick
| In addition those plants that have the
| facilities for making brick at any period Of
| the year by having the drying done by
/ artificial heat are not much better off, as
| they have sold not only whatever they had
| on hand, but also the current output, so
that the season starts off with no supply
| In sight except the current product The
present market for brick Is to some ex-
/ tent abnormal, for the reason that there are
| at least fye large buildings now going up
| which require large quantities Of this ma
/ terial. These are the Office buildings for
| the Senate and House and the new National
| Museum Building, and one for the Agricu-
| turai Department, to say nothing CT the
| new union station.
Building operations In all these cases
| have gone on practically all winter, so that
! the brick market has been kept pretty well
| cleaned up to supply the demand ON this
| source, at a time of year when all the
plants are not working at their full cauac-
/ ity. There Is the other class OF building
/ which Is being done by individuals and
/ companies, and the extent of that which
| came over from the last season. the most