Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1959-12-29
$40 Million Apartment
Plan Told by Sam Fig
Project Would
Serve Complex
Near His Motel

N0AAA AAAO 1VAOt(A
Plans for a huge apart
ment project, possibly cost
ing $50 million, located next
to Sam Figs Motel Wash
ingtonian, Gait h e r S burg
were revealed by Fig yesterday.
Attorney Plummer Shearin
said he would file coming APP
plication for Fig, requesting the
change of "a rural-residential
acres west of us. 24O to the
RIO (apartment) zone.
The proposed development Is
on a tract of land located in the
middle of 139-acre golf course
Fig plans to construct in the
near 1utule.
While Shearin said no draw.
ings of the apartments have
been made, he disclosed that
Figs plans call for an eventual
1900 apartment units on the
tract.
He said it costs 81 million to
build $50 units at 1000 square
feet per unit. Thirteen hundred
apartments, therefore, would
cost more than $8,666,O00 But
an associate of Figs, Robert Me.
Keever, later said, "we'll spend
$40 million"
Tenants Of the huge develop
ment would be drawn from the
5000 to 10000 persons working
for future Government and pri-
vate research and development
organizations and nearby indus
trial parks. Shearin said.
Only a little more than two
weeks ago, large sewer and
water lines serving the adjacent
industrial complex at Shady
Grove rd. and U. S. 240 were
authorized by the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission.
Location of two industrial
parks less than mile from the
proposed apartment develop
ment caused Zig TO go ahead
with the project. These very de-
velopments-one owned by Fig
constitute sufficient, required
change under the law Of neigh.
borhood character to warrant
the apartments, Shearin con-
tended.
Furthermore, the attorney
said, tenants In Figs industrial
park across the highway from
his Motel, have requested Fig
TO provide housing for their EN-
plOyes.
Civic reaction to the proposed
apartments is certain to be
sharp and critical, most observ-
ers agree. The coming applica-
ton comes at a time when an
accelerating rate of apartment
construction in Montgomery
County has many citizens Or
| CARNATIONS, stirred up.
! Also, the Maryland-National
Capitol Park and Planning Com
mission will hold a public hear
ing sometime early next year
to discuss the overall apartment.
! issue.
Only last Tuesday, County
Councilman Stanley B. Frosh
advocated a Council public hear
ing where citizens could get
! their views on the record. The
proposal was shelved in order to
allow the Planning Commission.
to hold its hearing first.
Shearin confessed to a ten
dency to become almost lyra
ical" when he told of the new
apartment development. He de-
scribed the tract as "panoramicy
in concept and view. situated
among gently rolling slopes
with a stand of timber to the
North. Three lakes on the SUP
rounding golf course VIII fur
ther enhance the apartments. he
added
II the apartments become a
reality, they will certainly be a
boon to existing and proposed
industry and research whose
personnel directors daily face
the twin problems{of turnover
and recruitment, c,xlsed by the
relative scarcity%T nearby
housing. M
The Atomic Energy Commits.
sion at Germantown lost scores
Of It's employees when It made
It's move from Washington, Eie.
cause Of lack of housing and
long distance workers had 10
cover daily.
The same prospect must face
the National Bureau Of Stand.