Evening star., 1952-09-26
Veterans Buying
1,572 Houses
Al GreenIDeIt
25-Yeur Mortgages
To Cover Totul
Of $6,285,450
By Robert J. Lewis

belt, Md, will be sold by the Gov.
ernmert to a veterans co-opera-
tive for $6,285,450, 1t was learned
today.
A sales agreement will be signed
this afternoon.
The agreement will provide for
a. 10 per cent down payment at a
final closing by December. 81, with
the balance Of the purchase price
covered by 25-year mortgage at
4 per cent interest.
The buyer viii be the Greenbelt
Veterans Housing Corp. composed
OF 300 members and headed by
Michael II. Salzrnan. The seller
is the Public Housing Administra-
tion, which several years ago was
assigned the job Of disposing OF
the property.
win Offer Land Later.
A spokesman for PTIA said 1,572I
single-family homes Of the 1873
unit development are involved inI
the sale. Undeveloped land, al
shopping center and apartment
units will be offered for sale byl
PHA later, it was explained.
Greenbelt is located about Isl
miles from Washington in Prince
Georges County. It has a popula-
ton of about $500, and is the
largest of the so-called green
towns" built in the 1905 as part
of the experimental housing activ-
lty of the first New Deal admin
istration.
Under a 1949 act of Congress,
PHA was authorized to dispose of
the property by negotiated sale.
The act gave veterans co-opera-
tives preferential status as pur-
chaSerS.
Lag in Negotiations.
Negotiations since the property
first was offered in early 1850 have
been marked by ups and downs,
including early failures to obtain
a sufficient number of COOP
members and protests from resi-
dents preferring to continue to
pay Greenbelt's relatively low
rents rather than to buy.
After the Korean outbreak, the
property was temporarily with |
drawn from the market by the
Government on grounds that it |
might be needed for emergency
housing.
Mr.. Salzman, a Government
employe who lives in the Green
belt development, is scheduled to
sign the sales agreement for the
veterans cooperative at 4:30 pm.
today in the Office of PHA Com
missioner John Taylor Egan in the
Longfellow Building.
The $6,285, ,450 sales price is in
contrast to price of $8,971 200
set for the entire property early |
this year.
A counter-proposal by the vet
erans' cooperative to eliminate
undeveloped land, a shopping CEN
ter and apartments from the Of
fering in order to reduce the price
was subsequently accepted by
PHA, a spokesman said.
Was make Work" Project"
Greenbelt was built partly as al
snake work" project, the Gov
ernment has frequently explained,
and therefore total Development
cost was relatively high for the
original project of 878 units.
Early in World War II, 1000 units
of war housing were added.
The original units, together with
1871 acres of land. cost the Re
settlement Administration $13,-
100000. That figure included the
cost of utilities, roadways, shop
ping center, theater and other ex-
tensive facilities, much of which
is not included in the sale.
Cost of the additional 1000
units built early in World War II
was given as $4,453, 200.
The Government said it did not
have Immediately available a fig
ure which would show the total
amount in rents collected in the
almost Is years operation of the
town.
Using a figure of $40 per month
as an average the actual average
may be higher-the total rent col
lected in that period would be