Evening star., 1948-10-12


considerably since the end OF the
war, due largely to our Government,
and other governments, vacating
millions of square feet of Office space
in privately owned Office buildings,
and the renting of this space by
private industry.
There also has been some new
construction in Office buildings, the
largest of which was the .2-story
Ring Building on the corner OF
Eighteenth and M streets NV.
An announcement mas just been
made that two other large, modern
office buildings are to be built soon,
one OF 10 stories on street between
Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets,
adjoining the Army and Navy Club,
4 which will contain approximately
zoo, 600 square feet Of space, and the
other of IL stories on the northwest
corner of Vermont avenue ana K
street, to contain about 5000 square
feet.
Commercial Demand.
Those who specialize in the leas-
ing of commercial properties in the
Washington area have witnessed a
substantial increase in demand from
the larger out-of-town chain store
companies, many of which already
have opened new units in this city
and the Metropolitan Area or are
awaiting the completion of store
units now under construction.
The steady and healthy growth of
our great city and its environs with
the constant Federal and District
government payrolls has attracted
large chain store companies for
many years and this trend is stead
lily increasing.
Good evidence of this is shown
by the recent openings of Neisner's,
at Twelfth and G streets NV: of
Franklin Simon, on upper Connec-
ticul avenue, and of Peck & Peck,
on lower Connecticut avenue near
Dupont Circle.
Many of the better known sand
.10-cent store chains, as well as the
large shoe and women's wear COM
panleS, have opened, or are in the
process OF opening, attractive stores,
both in our downtown city central
business district and In the new
shopping centers in the suburban
business areas.
The trend of all these chain COM
panies is to compete with each other
in the opening of larger ard more
attractively designed stores, with air
conditioning, f1uorescent lighting,
escalators and many other modern
features.
Both the Hecht Co.'S new store
at Silver Spring, and the new Mel
Sner store in downtown Washington
were built without windows, except
the ground floor show windows, are
lighted on the interior with the
most modern type of fluorescent fix
lures, are ventilated by means of
air conditioning and have escalators
This type of store construction is
growing in popularity with chain
store companies where multistory
structures are used.
Parking Disadvantage.
One of the most serious disadvan-
tages affecting the downstown busi-
ness district of Washington is the
lack of off-street parking, but it is
gratifying to observe that the civic
minded merchants and businessmen
are making progress in solving this
problem.
This is evidenced by the recent
establishment of two fringe parking
lots which will operate at reasonable |
rates for all-day parking in con-
junction with shuttle buses operated
by the Capital Transit Co.
It is expected that more of these
fringe lots will be opened in the near
future as this is perhaps the most
effective method Of correcting this
evil and it will tend to decrease
further decentralization of the
downtown business district.
It gives me great pleasure to ex-
press congratulations to the MEM
bers of the Home Builders Associa- l
ton Of Metropolitan Washington on !
the home show which it will present |
October 16 to "a. I strongly rec
ommend that this exhibit be in
spected by every local resident.
The Washington Real Estate
Board pledges its cooperation to
the Washington public in every
manner possible and will continue
its efforts to further the advance
ment and improvement of our great