Evening star., 1960-05-12
TALKING OF BUSINESS
Jack Bender's Office Building
Started as q Dream and Gamble
BY WILLIAM MacDOUGALL
Star Staff Writer

BY WILLIAM MacDOUGALL
Star Staff Writer
Every two weeks for Is years.
Jack I. Bender walked out of
the barber shop in the May
flower Hotel and paused for a
moment at the Connecticut
avenue entrance.
What a building site that
would be-" he said to himself,
gazing at the row Of shops on
the other side of the street.
The only trouble was" he
recalled recently, II couldn't
at that time even make change
for a dime"
But times have changed. To-
day the Bender Building, en-
comprising 100000 square feet
of space, rises IL stories tall
between L and Eighteent
streets NV.
1O-Year Construction Seen
The structure-believed the
largest new private Office build
ing here-is symbolic of chang
ing uptown Washington"
In an area bounded roughly
by Pennsylvania avenue to
California street and Fifteenth
street to Washington Circle,
office buildings are rising like
trees in a forest.
by 1870" Mr.. Bender pre-
dicted, the whole area will be
nothing but Office buildings"
According to unofficial esti-
mates, buildings recently COM
pleted or now under construc-
ton in that area-comprising
nearly IA million square feet
of space-will be worth more
than 500 million. To owners of
property in that vicinity as well
as the developers themselves, a
boom of such size has far
reaching consequences.
Problem for Merchants
One wholesale merchant in
the area who erected a three
story building for his business
10 years ago said he is con-
stantly beSeiged by real estate
agents.
They offer far more than he
originally paid for both land
and building, he said, but so
far he has resisted the bait. He
declared it would cost him too
much in prestige, volume and
convenience to locate elsewhere.
If the prices continue to 60
up, however, he may be forced
20 sell, he added.
| Other merchants in the area
have a different kind of prob
lem. Many businessmen who
have been comfortably housed
for many years in older, less
expensive locations are now be-
ing forced to vacate.
8-BlOck Move
One such business. the Bay
lor Furniture Co., at 724 Sew
enteenth street NV. is prepar-
ing to move to a new site at
925 H street NV. The old To-
cation will soon be razed to
make way for a new develop
ment.
IT'S bad for US, but Just one
Of those things" said Mrs.
Ralph c. Baylor, one of the
owners. I'VE expect to lose some
customers for the first six
months after the move, but
we're only moving eight blocks
and most of them will come
back"
Other merchants in the area
have been forced to transfer
operations to locations much
more distant and one or two
are quitting business altogether.
In many cases, however,
other stores are moving in to
fill the void, anxious to tap
what they predict will be a
blue chip" Office trade.
Big New Buildings
Among the larger structures
which are Transforming the
area are the Riddell Building,
1870 K; the RCA Building, 1725
K; Penn II, Seventeenth and
Pennsylvania; the PremierI
Building, l725 1 street; the
Machinists' Building, 1900 Con-
necticut; the 808 Seventeenth
Street Building, and the Uni
versal Building, 1925 Connecti-
cut.
Many of them offer such
attractions as basement-to-
rooftop air conditioning, under
ground parking and lavish win
dow space. The developers are
certain such features will more
than compensate for rental fees
expected to average from about
$3.50 to $3.50 a square foot, as