Evening star., 1951-01-08
By George Kennedy

BY George Kennedy
Arlington, viewed from the
river drive of Washington's Po-
tomac Park, looks much the same
as it did before the war.
The famous mansion with the
wide white pillars, where Lee once
lived. looks from the wooded
ridge to the Lincoln Memorial.
To the left the white stone of
the amphitheater at the Tomb Of
the Unknown Soldier glistens
through the trees. All seems quiet
along the Potomac. A big apart
ment house topping the trees at
the Fort Myer shoulder of the
ridge is the only hint of the
changes that are going on over
the horizon.
Land Values Soar.
Arlington is in the midst of a
boom that has it's older real estate
men dizzy. They just can't be-
lieve their ears when they hear
the prices paid for properties.
Corners that could be had for
$4,000 ten years ago are Icing
snapped up at 100000 today.
! For Arlington County is rot
waiting for any act of the legis-
Iature to become a city. 1t is be-
coming city in fact without
benefit of legislation-an economic
city before it becomes a political
one.
The terrific population growth
of the past 10 years-57, 900 in
1910, 1876, 900 in 1950-plus the de-
centralization policy of Washing
ton stores. is forcing Arlington
out of its pattern of a residential
suburb of Washington; forcing it
to have a downtown, like any
other city
Retail District Developing.
This downtown or retail district
is developing in the Clarendon
Ballston area of the county. Will
son boulevard and streets adja-
cent to it from Court House road
to Glebe road.
Most of the remaining houses
in that stretch have been tahsn
over for business purposes. Most
of them now house real estate
Offices. One bungalow on the
boulevard contains the Offices of
six realty companies. There are
also Offices of builders and title
companies and architects and
blue print reproduction services
Big concrete mixers revolve as
they roll along the boulevard and
carpenters are busy building con-
crete forms for new buildings in
every block.
Downtown Atmosphere"
Clarendon already has down
town" atmosphere with its many
chain stores, the biggest of them
built since the war. But these
will be dwarfed in turn by the
branches of Washington depart
ment stores going up a little to
the west. the $40 million store
that the Hecht Co. is building
at Wilson boulevard and Glebe
road and the 81 million store the
! S. KannS Sons Co. is building
near the Clarendon circle between
North Washington boulevard and
Fairfax drive.
The contractors are rushing
these big jobs in order to have
the stores open for the next
Christmas shopping season. The
Hecht Co. job already has had its
basement walls and ground floor
poured. At the Kann job. the
contractor, George A. Fuller Co.
of New York. is busy remaking
the land to fit the building to
come. At present pile drivers
are sinking footings in the hol-
low between the streets. Sections
of giant concrete pipe, which will
carry a stream under the store,
are lying about waiting to be put
in place. A great deal of earth
will be filled into the hollow be-
fore the basement floor is poured.
From $4,000 to 100000.
Ashton Jones, one of Arling-
tons senior real estate men, re-
members he had an opportunity
not so many years ago to buy
the property on which the Kann
Co. is building for $4,000. He
turned it down. It finally brought
about 100000.
"Oh. WE'LL" he says, that was
quite some time ago. come to think
of it. I'd have sold it to the first
person who would have offered
me a $4,000 profit. 1t takes turn
over to make increased real estate
values. If every one held every
thing they owned, it would be
worth just about what they paid
for it. And. anyway, hindsight is
easier than foresight"
He also remembers acting as
broker in 1919 in the sale of
Calvin johnson to Speak