Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-04-01
NEW BUSINESS AREA
COMING TO FRONT
St. Mary's Avenue District,
One of Earliest Additions to
City, Attracts Attention.
TUKEY DETAILS HISTORY

Turkey DETAILS HISTORY
St. Mary's avenue was one of the
main thoroughfares of early Omaha.
The avenue and that section of the
city adjacent to it has rather inter-
esting history, which was retold by
Harry A. Turkey last Wednesday be-
fore the Omaha Real Estate board I'M
der the head of "The Development of
the St. Mary's Avenue District" He
brought the district down through
history from 1862 to the present, with
all its developments. Speaking of the
Improvements in this section he said
in part;
property until the Flat Iron building
was built and the Sterling renludeled.
The Kountze interests then removed
all of the frame buildings to the north
and cleared the ground up. In such
shape it remained until last summer,
when Mr.. Kountze asked me to make
an appraisement of the property with
an idea Of putting it on the market. /
felt that it was such large PROPOSE
ton that I desired other independent
appraisemcnts, and with that idea in
view he asked c. E. George and A. L.
Reed for separate appraisements.
Appraisements Are Close.
at was a peculiar coincident that
when the appraisements were turned
in, while there was some variation on
the individual lots, the high and low
appraisements were only $4,000 apart
on the total sum. and the third ap-
praisement was exactly between the
other two. Mr.. Kountze then turned
the property over to us for sale, add
ing only to these prices small
amount on account Of the change in
Howard street, which I will later ex-
plain.
This property had been held so
long and offers on the same always
refused, that it is a surprise to many
people to realize the amount and
value of such a tract so close to town.
1t has been passed by and overlooked
for so many years that few people
even realize that it is there.
Worth a Million.
1T is probably the largest tract of
vacant ground as close to the business
center as has ever been put on the
market in any city in the United
States. The total value is about
S1,OOO,0O0, but with the growth of the
retail district of Omaha it seems the
ideal time to open up this piece of
property. As you can realize, Omaha
has been a one-street town, and now
with Farnam street looming up as
practically the only western street,
there is a danger Of affecting the
central values, unless the other west
ern streets are developed.
1.-THE retail business of Omaha is
practically conferred between Dodge
and Howard streets, on Sixteenth,
and to make solid, substantial town,
Dodge, Douglas, Farnam, Harvey
and Howard should be developed
more uniformly than at present, be-
cause no town is bettered by any sud
den change of its high value district.
1t is to all of our interests to aid in
a development that is for the best in
terest of the town itself. This is why
| am in favor of the Dodge street
proposed grade with the grading of
the cross streets, and frankly l am
not yet ready to favor the widening
of Twenty-fourth street.
Widening Howard Street.
"As soon as the handling of the
property was turned over to us, we
secured an option for a ninety-nine-
wear lease on the Krug corner on the
basis of $72,0000 We then took up
the widening of Howard street, which
YOU will notice at that time was only
fifty feet in width, and is paved only
thirty. We made arrangements with
the owners of the corner that we
would move their property north and
give them as much ground adjoining
their property as we took for the pro-
posed street, and would take ninety
nine-year lease on the new ground at
the same price. This was perfectly
satisfactory to them, so they Joined
with the Kountzes in making deed
to the city of the strip of ground
ffty-six feet wide at Seventeenth
street and narrowing down to seven
teen feet at Eighteenth, and the
Kountzes decided sufficient ground on
each side of Howard street to make
it seventeen feet wider all the way
through to Twentieth. This deed was
offered to the city without any con-
ditions, and, of course, was gladly
accepted by them.
This will make the street sixty
seven feet wide, and the paving seven
feet wider than St. Mary's avenue is
at the present time. 1t will make an
open space at Seventeenth and How
,rd and west to the Flatiron building
If almost 200 feet wide, which may
seem a waste OF space, but when it is
considered this is the only five cor
ners' in the business district Of
Omaha, it can readily be seen what
amount of traffic must be taken care
of, and will make an ideal spot for
large mass meetings, such as are now
held north of the post Office.
There has been so much talk about
establishing the automobile row on
Howard street, that feel we should
explain what started it.
Extent of Efforts.
Before this property was turned
over to US for sale, the automobile
men had a meeting, and decided they
would attempt to secure buildings on
this tract of ground. They went to
Mr.. Koutze, and he Immediately re-
ferred them to US, saying we were to
have the sale of the property when
it was put on the market. I met their
committee several times, and told
them that if ten of them would agree
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