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RECORD AKD   GUIDE.





May 3, 1902^





to make fair interest upon it by handing it to the Collector of
Taxes in liquidation of their obligation to him, which would
not be legally due until the flrst Monday in October. These
advance payments would probably equal the payments now
made in the rebate months of October and November, and while
the' city would pay very little, if anything more in rebates, it
■would save largely by being relieved of much of its necessity of
borrowing to meet current expenses.





However, final opinions on the means to effect the reform need
not be expressed now, but this must be insisted upon, that it
ought to be possible for a community as rich and intelligent as
this, in the course of eight or nine months of consideration to
find a way'of effecting a large saving in the public expenditures,
especially as the problem presented is an ordinary one to tbe
business world, namely, one of cutting off redundant expendi¬
tures.







The  amount of the tax rate has  such  an important effect

upon the income value of real estate that property owners will

heave   a  sigh   of   relief   at   the   announcement   that   for   the

present  year  at  least  there  will  be  no  in-

i           ipi^g ■       '  crease of the rate.    On the contrary there will

_       _             probably be  a  small  decrease,  although  the

i-!                          amount of that decrease cannot be precisely

'So   , .   '**'            decided until the assessments are finally estab-

.-„  -,; 1902.           lished.    The decrease will not be sufficient to

repay tax-payers to an appreciable extent for
lhe rough treatment they have received during the bloated
Jieriod of consolidation, but the best part of it is tbat very pos¬
sibly the decrease for the present year will be followed by a
still larger decrease for the year following. The tax rate is, of
course, the composite result of so many different factors that it
would be absurd to predict confidently tbat the rate for 1903
-will be appreciably lower than that for 1902. But what can he
Conservatively stated is that several different conditions are
making for reduction. In the first place the State tax will be
some $4,000,000 less than it is this year. If all of this saving
went to the benefit of the tax-payers, it would mean a decrease
of more than ten points in the rate, but though this is too much
to expect, it is evident that the present administration will at
least try bard to take advantage of this opportunity to win the
approval of tax-payers. Moreover, there is another source of
possible diminution. When the preliminary figures of the as¬
sessed valuation of real estate were made public in January, the
Record and Guide showed by selected instances that these valu¬
ations had not been influenced as yet either by the enormous
building movement which began early in 1901, or by the extra¬
ordinary advances in real estate values which had been recently
taking place.





-  While  the  business  actually  consummated  during the  past
week shows a  diminution  in  volume  compared  with that of
previous weeks, it has been marked by several important sales.
Probably the most interesting and significant
of these transactions  is the purchase of the
Characteristics   piaza Hotel by a syndicate with Judge Dugro
of -tie           at its head.    It wiil be remembered that one

'Week.          of the worst mistakes alleged against the man¬

agement of a former president of the New
York Life was this Plaza Hotel investment,
and that the company should be able finally to get out, probably
without a loss and perhaps with a profit, is a telling indication
pf the increased value of property in that vicinity. The Plaza
(square) is the handsomest square in New York and has reaped
the full advantage of the growth of upper 5th ave. The site of
the Plaza Hotel is much the finest location on the square, and
perhaps, also the finest site iu all the city for a quiet but
elegant family hotel. The existing building can easily be much
improved and rendered more profitable by the new purchasers.
Other parts of 5th ave. also have been as active as ever.
"Huylers" is the latest of tbe well-known shops, now located in
the vicinity of Broadway and 23d st,, to find a new site on mid¬
dle Sth ave. The particular one selected is between 42d and 43d
sts., and together with the changes in the Hotel Rennaisance
and the Hotel Bristol, almost one whole block will be modern¬
ized and will contribute to the total effect of the new Sth ave.
It is apparent also, that Madison ave. in the same vicinity will be¬
fore long become the site for a big building operation, which
will assist the transformation of the neighborhood. No blocks
in the city are more active than these immediately north of 42d
St., from Madison ave. to Long Acre square. An extremely in¬
teresting projected improvement is that of a twelve story apart¬
ment hotel for the Grand Circle. This, the second modern build¬
ing, which the activity in that region has caused or will cause
to be erected,  but it may be doubted whether it foreshadows





the future uses to which sites on the Grand Circle or in the
vicinity thereof will be put. Unlike the Plaza, which is dis¬
tinctively a hotel square, it looks as if the Circle would prob¬
ably be chiefiy an amusement center, diversified of course with
hotels, restaurants, ahd the kind of stores that accompany them.
The fact that Broadway passes through the Circle is sufficient
to warrant this prediction. There has been less activity than
has been customary this week, both on the East and West Sides.
Fewer residences have been sold than for some time past; but
a strong healthy demand for them still exists, and will doubtless
keep on bearing fruit. In another column, we give for what it is
worth a piece of news, which should the operation go through,
will prove to be of the utmost importance. It has been evident
that after the Subway was in use, the corners of 23d st. and 4th ave,
would become extremely desirable sites for large mercantile en¬
terprises, and tbe purchase of the "Young Men's Christian Asso¬
ciation Building last spring by the Central Realty, Bond and
Trust Company, was followed by lively speculations as to what
would eventually be done with the property. Well, that is still
in doubt, but the fact is established that some large interest has
recently been making strenuous efforts to piece out a big plot on
22d and 23d sts., near 4th ave., and it looks as if they would
succeed. When such a plot is pieced out, it wouid be one of the
best locations in the city for a department store.





A canvass made during the past week, the results of which
are published in another column, exhibits in its completeness a
fact of which the Record and Guide has frequently offered in¬
dividual examples.    It shows  that  the  office
buildings, which have been finished this spring
Office Building are all of them well rented for the first year of
Present and    their tenancy.    No one of them is less than
Future.          80 per cent, leased, and several of them will

be immediately fllled from top to bottom
And these successes have been obtained in
spite of a level of prices some 20 per cent, higher than that of
a few years ago. It is manifest from this exhibit that in spite
of the active building of the past year, the demand for offices
in and near the financial district still runs ahead of the sup¬
ply, and that conditions offer an abundant warrant for a con¬
tinuation of the existing rate of construction probably for two
more years. According to present indications, more office build¬
ings will be started during the spring and summer of 1902, than
there were during the spring and summer of 1901. It is impos¬
sible at the moment to ascertain precisely how many of the
projects announced during the last few months will actually be
realized, but indications point to one building on Battery place,
three on lower Broadway, one on Broad st., one on Exchange
place, aud one each on Wall and Pine sts., and two on William
St. This seems to be a formidable list, but most of these build¬
ings will cover comparatively small plots, and so will not in¬
crease rentable space as largely as might be expected—certainly
not largely enough to satisfy the constantly increasing demand
of the present time. Moreover, the structural steel situation
makes it extremely improbable that any new projects can be put
in practicable shape during the remainder of this year. So it
will naturaiiy follow that during the spring of 1903 the financial
district will be the scene of more building than ever. Of course
this will depend upon the maintenance of the present level of
prosperity, but business will scarcely begin to take a down
grade as soon as that. The fact is that space in the financial
district proper is becoming peculiarly valuable to certain
opulent institutions, banks, life insurance companies, and so
forth, and that the competition of these interests has forced
prices up so high that twenty story buildings are becoming the
only possible means of getting even a decent interest on the
investment.    Less  wealthy  corporations,  such  as the  fire  in-