Evening star., 1955-07-08
D. c. Syndicate Admits
Right-of-Woy Profits
Got Land Subdivided

that he considered the offer toe
good to pass up.
Got Land Subdivided
Shortly after Mr.. Offenders
bought the 66.33 acre tract
which lies just north of Route
124. also known as Ounce Or.
Ichard road he persuaded the
Mayor and Council of Gathers.
burg to allow him to subdividt
it. That had the effect of in.
.creaSing its value since. on pa.
per, at least, the tract had beer
transformed from grazing lane
to a potential village of 20(
homes.
The engineers survey mar
outlining the 200 building lot:
was entitled, "Offenberg's Addi.
tion to Gaithersburg."
Harold Taubin, planning engi.
'neer for the Upper Montgomery
County Planning Commission
which would have to approve al
upper county subdivision plat!
of more than 10 acres ex-
cept those in incorporated
towns. said that, when he learned
of the Gaithersburg council!
action. he tried to get town off.
cialS to change it. He sale
he and Mr.. Du Pre- attended
a meeting and pleaded with
the council to rescind its
approval of the Offenburg sub.
division. but that the town at.
torney said it would not be legal
Mr.. Du Pre- appraised the
larger Gutenberg tract for the
commission and placed a value
on it of $58,750 GUST $3.50 be-
low what the agency eventually
paid for it,.
Wide disagreement on the
value of the tract was shown by
two outside appraisers who in
spected it for the commission
Ralph P. Ripley of Rockville,
member of the Maryland Real
Estate Commission and past
president of the Montgomery
County Real Estate Board
valued it at S34,250. Robert D.
Hagner, former County Com
missioner and longtime Demo-
cratic party worker in the
county, who died last January
valued it at $75,659.
Mr.. Du Pre- placed a value OF
81 $50 on the 3.95 acres the COM
mission bought from Mr.. Offen-
berg's smaller Gaithersburg tract
for $500. Mr.. Hagner ap-
praised it for $7,910.
Group Buys 40 Acres
Since the roads commission
purchases, The Star has learned,
Paul l. Burman and a group of
Washington real estate men and
developers have purchased about
40 acres of the approximately
81 acres of the Gaithersbure
property Mr.. Gutenberg did not
sell to the State.
The group has been turned
down once by the town coun-
Gil IN seeking to have the 40-acre
parcel rezoned for industrial. II
is adjacent to the Baltimore &,
Ohio Railroad tracks. Mr.. Bur-
man sai6 he and his associates
intend t. make another try at
winning industrial zoning for the
tract He would not disclose the
amount paid to Mr.. Gutenberg
Tor the 40 acres, stating that this
seemed to be an inopportune
time for such a disclosure.
The roads commission records
also show the State paid Alfred
"a wartZ of Washington
$39,872 for about 80 acres of land
on both sides of Muddy Branch
road. That's about a mile south
of Mr. Oftenberg's Gaithersbure
holdings, and the location of an
other proposed interchange on
the new 240.
Mr. Gutenberg denies any con-
nection with the Schwartz sale
but an Alfred M. Schwartz is
listed in the roads commission
records as the attorney who rep
resented Mr.. Rosenfeld and Mr.
Goldberg in negotiations with
the commission for purchase of
the four acres at Falls and Seven
LOCKS roads, Rockville.
The Muddy Branch road prop
erty the State had to buy from
Mr.. Schwartz was purchased
without benefit of any outside
ap2raiSals according to the rec
OH The right-of-way depart
n.ut appraised it for $36.500.