Evening star., 1942-12-12
Office Space
Almost 1907
Filled in D. {.
But Rest Of Country
Shows Drop in Areas
Not Doomed by War
BY FRED H. MORHART, Jr

Though vacant business and offic,
space in Washington is practically
+, nil, reports from other cities indi
cate there is a downward trend il
, occupancy caused by the war.
: While there is high demand fo
accommodations here. in other cite!
a national survey shows that be
cause of priorities in commodities
. many establishments are giving ur
their commercial properties for tht
duration or are sharply reducing
their floor space
As was reported recently, there
is less than / per cent of the Office
space here unoccupied. However
throughout the country, an average
Of one out of eight Offices is vacant
IN commercial buildings.
Ceiling Price Opposed.
The National Association of Rea,
Estate Boards called on the Govern
ment not to set ceiling price or
commercial space, but rather tc
establish minimum rates.
Attributing the downward trend
to the war effort, which has caused
conversions and stoppage of civilian
production, the board this week pre-
sented to the Senate Banking and
Currency Committee results of their
survey in opposition to move by
Congress to establish Federal con-
troll over commercial and industrial
rents.
Though Washington is not a pri-
mary commercial and industrial re-
gion, the District area representative
gave a report on local conditions.
This was sent to the national organ
ization. However, the full report
was not made public. 1t was indi-
Gated, nevertheless, that selection of
commercial and industrial space
here had definite trends, according
to areas and location.
U. S. Takes % Pct. of Space.
Realty brokers specializing in this
field have pointed out that the mar
ket here is practically lat its lowest
ebb because of the Government re-
quirements. The Federal Govern
ment at present. it was estimated,
has taken % per cent of the COM
mercial space available here. This
does not include hotel, apartment
and private houses taken over for
the war effort.
Commercial rents need a floor
rather than a ceiling. the real estate
boards pointed out. Without eXcep-
ton they state that the setting up
of complex Nation wide administra-
tive machinery and a Nation wide
staff to control commercial and in
dustrial rents which have a very
intricate lease structure, would en-
tail far more costs and waste of
manpower than any possible benefits
that could accrue, since obviously
under today's business and manu-
featuring conditions there is no anti
Imitation need to be served by such
a measure.
With thousands of business firms
going out of business each month,
as materials and goods grow scarcer
and As their proprietors or stats go
into the armed forces. the concern
of building owners must be to at
- tempt to aid their existing tenants
) to keep going. Practically no new
businesses are coming in, at this
- time.
Various Cities Report.
Details as given by the real estate
boards of several cities follow:
acknowledgements in retail stores
are increasing daily. Rents on in
= dustrial properties have generally
remained stable during the last year
OF 249 commercial leases renewed
since January. 214 were renewed at
: the same rate as in previous leases
were renewed at an average in
crease of 80 per cent, and 80 were
renewed at a decrease of 1913 pei
cent.
Detroit-Every tendency for com.
(See SPACE, Page BID