Evening star., 1953-11-11
By Francis P. DouoIos

been spent in Transforming a
stretch Of rolling countryside.
drained by meandering creeks,
into a warehouse district, which
has become supply and pantry
center for the Washington area.
This center is a mile from the
District line in the Landover
section of Prince Georges County.
The development is continuing.
The American National Red
Cross, is building warehouse
which, will cost about $500, 900.
Another warehouse may be
erected by the Giant Food De-
partment Stores. The company
has an option on about s15 acres
there and is considering the
project.
The development has come
about through the activity of the
Pennsylvania Railroad. Its spurs
serve the concerns already es-
tablished. Railroad cars are
shunted along one side of the
warehouses. Trucks back up to
loading docks on the other side.
Cabin Branch road, which runs
through the area, leads into
Sheriff road which gives con-
venient access to Washington.
Sideways $40 Million Project.
The biggest structure SO far is
the Safeway Store warehouse.
a $40 million property, which is
about four blocks long.
Next to it is the Merchants
Terminal Corps refrigerated
warehouse.
Nearby is the warehouse of
F. w. Bolgiano & Co. That COM
pany's investment is put at be-
tween $350,000 and 100000.
Farther north, toward the
main line of the Pennsylvania. is
where the Red Cross is building.
The pioneer in the area was
the West Bros. Brick Co. Dis
placed from Virginia by the
building Of the Pentagon in 1912,
the company was forced to find a
new site for its operations.
1t bought 200 acres-more
than it needed-which provided
place for its brick baking op-
erations and a high clay bank
for the raw material. There
were some houses on the proper
ty, which was a small valley Of
trees and thickets, providing
cover for quail.
In one area was an abandoned
rifle range. which had been used
in World War I.
Three Bridges for Spur.
The company built q spur
about a mile long from the Penn
sylvania tracks. That involved
erecting three bridges-across
Beaver Dam Greek, Cabin
Branch and what is known as
Middle Stream.
In 1850. the Pennsylvania
bought IS acres of the West
Bros. property and additional
acreage. There have been sub
sequent purchases. The ware.
house area is roughly bounded
by Sheriff road, Cabin Branch
road and the former Tuxedo
Landover road.
Safeway was the first to put up
a warehouse, which was opened
in August, 1852. It is a supply
depot for more than 200 of the
company's stores in this area
and is said to be one of the
country's largest food ware
houses. It has more than 16 acres
under roof. The manager uses
a bicycle to get around in it.
The structure replaced distrib-
uting centers at three places in
Washington. In the new prop
erty, warehousing is provided for
groceries, meats, milk products,
produce, bakery goods and other
articles the company sells. There
is also truck repair shop and a
service building. About $50 per-
sons are employed.
The company completed the
project and sold it all to the
Prudential Insurance Co. Then,
in turn, it leased it from Pruden-
tial. Safeway thereby keeps it's
capital in the grocery business
and not in real estate.
Public Warehouse.
The Merchants Terminal
building is a public warehouse.
What investment has been in
volved has not been made public.
But when the zoning authorities
gave their approval, it was on
application to erect a building
458 by 387 feet estimated to cost
100000. That figure did not in
clude the cost of the site or
equipment.
The building provides 2 million
cubic feet of refrigerated storage
space for perishable foods. It
was opened last May.
There are docks for 20 railroad
cars. For loading and unloading
of trucks. there are floating"
docks. which can be raised or
lowered to the level of the truck
bed so that forklift trucks can
eh,,ffla out