Evening star., 1950-11-06
Silver Spring.
By GEORGE Kennedy


Silver Spring Is a real estate Ell
Dorado, ComStock lode right in
Washington's back yard.
Washington's real estate mart is
always buzzing with rumors of
new creative" deals in Silver
Spring. Millions have been realized
in the upward surge of values
there since the war.
Only six years ago. during the
war, principal marker at the in
tersection Of Colesville Pike and
Georgia avenue was a White
Tower hamburger stand with
drive-in space where motorists
used to stop for bite. The ham
burger stand has been moved
from the corner and today it is the
site Of a Hahn shoe store which
did almost a 100000 business last
year.
That is the amazing thing about
the Silver Spring retail district.
The new stores have exceeded the
most optimistic expectations. The
Hecht Co. branch store did $7.5
million its first year and $40 mil
lion its second year. Now that it
has been enlarged by the addition
of another floor, the Silver Spring
real estate promoters are betting
that it will have SIS million year
soon.
/ Georgia avenue widens as it
crosses into Maryland giving Sill
yer Springs shopping district the
appearance of a western town.
The spread from store windows on
one side to those on the other is
almost $50 feet.
This is not like the Florida
BOOM" said r. P. Ripley, Silver
Spring real estate man as he gazed
out OF his second-story window to
the wide and busy street below
Every one is holding on to retail
properties. if they are lucky
enough to own them. The deals
are in long-term leases based on
percentages of retail sales.
But there are plenty of trans
actions in residential sites. This
may give you an idea of how much
business is being done: There are
10 places here where you can have
title searched"
Old Timers Remember.
The old timers all remember the
farmhouse and farm at the south
east corner of Georgia avenue
and Colesville pike. Fred Lutes,
president of the Suburban Bank,
$50 million institution, remem-
berS he wanted to buy it when
he arrived in Silver Spring in 1915
just for a place to live. There
was a For Sale" sign on the
house. He inquired about it. The
price was $4,000. Mr.. Lutes
asked how much down. The an
swer was $4,000. Mr.. Lutes could
not buy it. He had only $500.
At one time it was offered to
James H. Cissel for $500 and he
turned it down.
! 1t is the property on which the
Hecht store, the theater and row
of stores on Colesville pike and
the shopping center on Georgia
avenue stand. In 1887, William
Alexander Julian, the multi-mil-
lionaire shoe manufacturer from
Cincinnati who was Treasurer of
the United States, bought the
Georgia avenue frontage for $780,
900. He made a shopping cenUer
there by constructing 28 stores.
In 1914 he sold it to Sam Fig.
the Georgia avenue grocer and
liquor dealer for 100000.
Mr.. Fig increased his holdings
in the block and built a big store
around the corner for Frank r.
Jellef1, Inc.
Now ne is constructing a four
story building for Offices and a
row of stores OIL the Colesville
pike frontage of the old farm
property at an expenditure of
well over 81 million"
One bit of that property with
frontage of so OF so feet on the
Colesville pike was owned by A. L.
Pease who operated a Reindeer
Frozen Custard stand there. He
had paid about $4,000 for 1T in
the 20s. Mr.. Fig gave him 100000
for it.
"City of 50O,OO0."
1--WE are building for a city of
500.000," says Mr.. Fig.
He is now planning to con-
struct an eight-story 200-room
hotel on Colesville Pike so that
statesmen who come to Silver
Spring to do business with it's
merchants will not have to go
into town and there will be a
place for civic affairs. He also
intends to raise money for hos
pital. He is now busy raising
money for the Silver Spring con-
tribution to the Community
Chest-he accepted a chairman
ship.
He places the value of the
land he gave for construction of
Protestant and Catholic churches,
Jewish Community Center, Red
Cross building. and to the State
for street extensions, at $3.50 900.
While he started purchasing
farm land more than 80 years
ago on which his Rock Creek
Gardens apartments are located,
he moved into Silver Spring only
last year. He has lost track of
how many dwelling units he has
built in the county-the number
is well over 1000. He is taking
an active part in politics as a
Democrat. He is a member of the
board of the Suburban Bank and