Developer Has the Past in Mind for Shaw

They keep a poster with prices from the old days: "Men's haircut: $1.50." Now the brothers charge $12.

"The block never came back after the riots," Gennaro said, but now the city's building boom is spreading beyond downtown. "Here, there's the subway so the location is good. They're moving this way with development."

Four years ago, their uncle sold the storefront building that houses the barber shop to a real estate developer for $400,000. The brothers said their uncle, who has since died, had paid $12,000 for the property. Now Ellis has the building under contract.

"It was just a matter of time before someone did something exceptionally big like this," Lionel said of Ellis's project.

Their rent is $1,200 a month, but they expect it to double. They don't want to move but expect that they will have to find space along Georgia Avenue toward the Maryland state line, where rents are lower.

"We're trying to carry on a legacy," Gennaro said as he cut a young man's hair. "We'll see how long we last."

Closings

· CB Richard Ellis hired Randy Harrell and Kevin Howard, two brokers from competing firm Grubb & Ellis. Both men have been at Grubb & Ellis since 1999. Harrell will be an executive vice president, and Howard will be a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis

· The Peterson Cos., a Fairfax-based developer, said it is selling several office buildings, totaling 1.2 million square feet, at its 7-million-square-foot Fair Lakes office complex. Steven Peterson, president of Peterson Development Co., said the company is selling the buildings to recapitalize for its huge National Harbour development in Prince George's County and other projects.

· Vienna-based Atlantic Realty Cos. bought Quince Tree Executive Center, a 76,800-square-foot office building that it will convert to office condominiums. Transwestern Commercial Services helped broker the deal.

· Washington Real Estate Investment Trust of Rockville paid $50.3 million for the Montrose Shopping Center and the Randolph Shopping Center, both in Rockville.

· Duke Realty Corp. of Indianapolis said it plans to build a 79,000-square-foot industrial warehouse in TransDulles Centre in Sterling and 98,000 square feet of flex office buildings in the Westfields Corporate Center in Chantilly.

Dana Hedgpeth writes about commercial real estate and economic development. Her e-mail address ishedgpethd@washpost.com.