The Texas Ranger

Bouncing into Washington a fortnight ago went a slight Texan with a toothy smile. By the time he had left, a few days later, Leo Francis Corrigan had made an agreement with the Government to buy $43,600,000 in federal housing projects, the biggest deal of its kind on record.

Corrigan will take over from the Federal Government's Defense Homes Corp. two of the nation's big wartime housing developments: Fairlington, across the Potomac in Virginia, with 3,439 apartment units; McLean Gardens, on the site of the old Evalyn Walsh (Hope Diamond) McLean estate, with 1,912 units. DHC tossed a 180-apartment development in Bremerton, Wash, into the bargain. Corrigan's end of the deal: $4 million cash, the balance on a 28-year mortgage at 2 1/2%.

Corrigan had topped 26 other bidders (including the inadequate but politically embarrassing $9 million bid for McLean Gardens from the Veterans Cooperative Housing Association). The fact that Leo Corrigan made off with these two prized housing developments (they have all been profitable to DHC; would surprise no Texans, who know Corrigan as probably the biggest real-estate operator in the Southwest.

The Kingdom. From his headquarters in Dallas' 30-story Mercantile Bank Building, Leo Corrigan surveys a real-estate kingdom which extends from Shreveport, La. through Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and down to the Rio Grande valley. In Dallas alone he operates 28 shopping centers, three skyscrapers, two apartment hotels, four suburban hotels and several hundred apartment houses. With his new buys, Corrigan's holdings are estimated at close to $79 million.

Fifty-one-year-old Leo Corrigan wedged into Dallas' real-estate market 30 years ago as a want-ad salesman. His first venture was a neighborhood drugstore, built for $10,000 out of savings. It was also one of the few buildings he ever purchased outright. Corrigan's operating motto is: pay as little down as possible, let the .rent do the rest. Also: always build your apartments around a shopping center. As one project began to pay off, he would take out a mortgage to start another.

An Empire. Conservative real-estate men smiled conservatively, waited for Corrigan to stumble over his fast-moving self. But Corrigan has yet to stumble. He went right on building shopping centers, erecting housing units around them. During the depression less than 1% of Corrigan's properties were vacant: his low-rent policy kept them filled. Says he: "I spread 'em around, that's the answer. Rather than make a big profit out of one building, I get a little profit out of one building."

Corrigan expects to grow even bigger. He has set himself a 1947 program, exclusive of the DHC deal, which includes: 10,000 housing units in Chicago and Southern California; two skyscrapers, one in Dallas, the other in Houston; more office buildings in Fort Worth; 2,000 housing units in Dallas. Total costs should run well into eight figures.

Wasn't all this a pretty big bite for one year? Replied Corrigan: "No risk at all. Experience is the foundation of courage. That's Emerson, son."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.