Evening star., 1944-02-27
Housing
Continued From First Page.)

fair offer. He said some bona fide
"nibbles" already had been received,
along with a large number of more
or less insulting offers, suggesting
sale at so per cent below cost, or
even less.
Cost Is Chief Obstacle.
Chief obstacle to early disposal of
the properties is their construction
cost which would seem to set new
high for this type of housing. Using
the DHC's own figures the cost of
each room at Mclean and Naylor
is about double the room-cost of
comparable private developments.
Figures supplied by private builders
show the Governments costs as
nearly triple those of private enter
prise.
Mr.. Emmerich admitted the
DHCs costs were high, but he
pointed out the corporation built
the developments under wartime
conditions which were most un-
favorable, while all of the private
construction used in comparison
was started earlier. In addition, he
said the Government jobs are better
built and more desirable as homes
than the private developments.
In calculating the construction
cost of rooms in Mclean and Naylor
Gardens, DHC counted apartment
dinettes as separate rooms. Private
builders did not consider the space
as rooms. While the dining space
is not separated from the living
room,- the DHC count would seem
to be fair because of roominess of
the units.
Naylor Gardens Cost S6,878,O00.
The total cost of Naylor Gardens
was $6,878,000. The room cost, by
DHC count, was $1,920. Private in
terests place the cost at $2,235 per
room. The project was finished
early last year.
Not far from Naylor Gardens in
the Southeast section is the private
development, Fairfax Village. The
room-cost of buildings completed In
Fairfax Village in 1912 was sl,162
Even If 10 per cent were added to
the Fairfax cost to allow foE earlier
completion, it would still be far
under Naylor Gardens.
Private builders compare Mclean
Gardens with Haywood Gardens, a
development just over the District
line in Mount Rainier, Md. The
room-cost for the apartments at
Mclean Is about $4,000 by DHC esti-
mate and S3,o85 by private calcula-
ton. The cost of rooms finished
last year in Haywood Gardens was
placed at $3.50.
The room cost for Fairlington, a
large section of which is still in
complete, was estimated at $4,000.
There was no basis for a comparison
of costs OF the residence halls, since
private interests have done little
building OF that type. However,
Meridian Hill Hotel cost $2,822 per
room; George Washington Carver
Hall (for colored mem, $3280, and
Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall (colored
women, $2,790. No figure was given
for the cost of the residence halls at
Mclean Gardens.
A rule-of thumb method for de-
termining value of desirable apart
ment properties in Washington's
currently high realty market is to
multiply the annual gross rental by
six. Few apartment buildings have
changed hands at anything above
such an estimate
S7,053, 900 Spent on Mclean.
The apartments at Mclean Gar
dens cost $7053,O00. Since the an
nual rental is only $658,064, the
apartments would have to sell for
more than 10 times the rental to
return cost to the Government. BY
the method used in estimating
roughly the value of private prop
erty, DHC would get slightly under
$4,000,000 for the Mclean apart
ments. A comparable loss also would
be taken at darlington and Naylor
| Gardens.
Mr. Emmerich admitted that pri-
vate interests would have difficulty
making a return on investment in