Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-08
.S12.5O ROOM RENT
ST|RS BIG INTEREST.
10000 Circulars Requested
on Apartment Project for
u. S. Workers. y

Evidence of the. interest taken by
Government employees in the District
Of Columbia in the plan for construct
ing apartments to be. leased at a
low rental was given yesterday when
the various departments and indie
pendent agencies asked the Commerce
Department for nearly 10000 circu.
lars and Questionnaires to be dis
tr1buted among the employees Of the
Government here.
Further details of the proposal an
nounced Friday by the Commerce
Department, were not forthcoming.
Neither the name of the individual
who has offered to construct the
apartments nor the location Of the
proposed buildings within 10 minutes
OF the business center of the city,
could be ascertained. Commerce De-
partment officials explained that these
announcements were being held up
to await che reaction from the en-
ployes, and to find out how many
Government workers are interested in
the proposal which will make avail
able to them apartments at what is
considered cheap rent.
Realty Men Interested.
The announcement has also aroused
great interest among real estate op-
orators in Washington, who profess
their inability to see how such a
large building operation could be
financed on a rental basis of $3.50 q
room. Finance charges would eat
heavily into the income from such
an operation and would virtually wipe
out even the smallest margin Of profit
they say. The announcement by the
Commerce Department said the indi-
vidual making the offer is actuated by
purely altruistic motives and has no
wish to enter into speculative
scheme for profit.
Not all the 10000 Government EN-
ployes in Washington will be inter
ested, it was pointed out. as many OF
them own their own homes. Others
officials declared, might not wish tC
get behind the plan because of a sense
of pride, which would urge them not
to accept what might be termed
charity.
Proceed with QUESTIONABLE.
In the meantime, however, and In
the face of denials from real estate
dealers that the scheme is feasible
chief clerks of the Government
agencies in Washington went ahead
distributing the missionaries. Some
have already been turned in to Chief
Clerk Libbey of the Commerce De
partment. although it is expected the
bulk of the returns will not come in
until the middle of next week. Mr.
Libbey is out of the city today. In
his absence other Commerce Depart
Ro;, I,
the proposal, which has been placed
in his hands by Secretary Hoover.
An expenditure of $66,00O 900 to
construct 266 buildings of rs apart
ments each, in which $4,000 employees
or 10000 families would be housed
would be required, James p. Schick
executive secretary and treasurer of
the Washington Real Estate Board de-
clared. Such buildings, he added, would
be of a comparatively inexpensive type
of construction. On the basis of $12 so
room, the finance charges involved
in the construction of such buildings
and their operation would make the
plan not feasible, Mr.. Schick said. He
said there is probably not enough
ground within 10 minutes of the bust
ness center of the city on which to
erc such a group of buildings
Wants Employees Names.
Edmund J. Flynn, an authority on
cooperative apartments, last night de.
manded that he be supplied with the
names of employees who would be in.
terested in purchasing apartments in
the proposed buildings 'if the public
officials quoted consider that they have
the right to supply the names of
employees who desire to purchase
apartments to outside interests" He
made his demand mot only as a mat.
ter of equal rights, but in the in.
terest of the employees as WELL"
Contending that the cooperative
apartment is the solution to the rent
problem confronting Government EN-
ployes, Mr.. Flynn said that if the
officials who are aiding the interests
which proposed to enter this field
will investigate the cooperative prof
ect he is now sponsoring, they will
find that Government employees may
purchase apartment homes in one OF
these projects at a cost of about 4C
per cent less than the amount that
would be necessary to obtain as rental
on the same apartment, because OF
the wastes incidental to rental, such
as vacancies, uncollectable rents, etc.
Bought Land Before Rise.
a local real estate concern years
ago purchased large tracts of land
at prices far under the present value
he said, making possible a saving in
that respect alone that would more
than offset the fair margin of profit
they ask in marketing these apart
ments" as compared to the prices
that necessarily must be asked by
this proposed new concern buying
land at the prevailing rates. This
concern, he said, is so well estab-
lished here, that no new concern
could Immediately compete with
1t in the economies in construction
costs.
ITO substantiate the foregoing
claim, quote figures on a co-opera
tive apartment l now have for sale
as a comparison with the figures
quoted in the newspaper articles re-
ferred to. This apartment consist
ing of two bedrooms, living room
kitchen, breakfast room, reception
hall and bath, finished in hardwood
floors, tiled bath with built-in tub
and shower, is for sale on terms as
follows:
Counting this apartment as five
rooms (bath free). the initial pay
ment of 1890 amounts to $272 g
room. The average amount OF the
monthly payments applying to inter
est plus the assessment for operating
cost is S33.57, which as an equivalent
of rent amounts to $6.71 per room