April 26, 191V





RECORD    AND     GUIDE





545





Real Estate Review  for the Current Week

Purchase of Empire Building by United Stales Steel Corporation Is Feature

of the Business





WITH the $5,000,000 sale of the Empire Building to the
United States Steel Corporation for use as its per¬
manent New York home as a leading transaction,
with a well maintained demand for apartment house proper¬
ties in various parts of the city, with a steadily increasing
number of deals involving private houses, and with instances
steadily growing in number of deals involving cash outlays,
and with unmistakable signs indicating the return of the
small buyer into the investment field, the business this
week justified a high degree of optimism. For some weeks
the demand has gradually been broadening to include the
most desirable elements for the maintenance of a strong
market; this week the general tone of the business and the
character of the demand indicated that, although speculative
activity continued to be prominent, there was a counter cur¬
rent of buying influence which was attracting permanent
capital into this field of investment.

But interest, of course, centered upon the transaction which
makes New York City the permanent steel center of the
v/orld. Aside from this element in the transaction, the sale
was of such magnitude that it is difficult within recent years
to find transactions equalling it. There have been a number
of downtown office buildings sold within recent years, but
there have been few involving properties of such size and
value. Not since 1910 when the tall structure at 42 Broadway
was bought by the New York Real Estate Security Company





for a price understood to have been in the neighborhood of
$7,000,000 has there been a transaction of such a size consum¬
mated. The move on the part of the United States Steel Cor¬
poration is regarded, however, as the natural consequence of
the recent condition of the downtown renting market due to
the shortage of space which has compelled many large cor¬
porations to purchase buildings in order to assure permanent
occupancy. Under normal conditions the corporation would
probably have been able to lease sufficient space to meet its
requirements, but the competition for quarters in the im¬
mediate neighborhood of the financial zone has been so-keen
that the only way whereby location in this district could be
.'issured was through an actual purchase.

There were several other interesting transactions closed,
among them two deals forecasting important building op¬
erations. Tall mercantile buildings are contemplated for sites
at the northeast corner of Seventh avenue and 27th street and
on a large plot at 309-311 Fifth avenue, between 31st and 32d
streets. Of varying interest were the acquisition of valuable
upper Broadway flats by E. E. Smathers, who has been steadily
adding to his New York realty holdings; the sale of the former
James Stillman home to a buyer reported to be the present
tenant; the purchase of valuable residential property at Park
gvenue and 68th street, which is to be rebuilt, and also a num¬
ber of deals involving upper West Side and Washington
Heights  apartment  houses.





PRIVATE REALTY SALES.





T"' HE total number of sales reported and not
■'- recorded in Manhattan this week was IOU
as against US  last  week  and 31)  a  year ago.

The number of sales south of 59th street was
26 as compared with 32 last week and 14 a
year ago.

The number of sales north of 59th street
was S3 as compared with 66 last week and 25 a
year  ago.

From the Bronx 30 sales at private contract
were reported as against 66 last week and 7
a  year  ago.

Statistical tables, indicating the number of
recofded instruments, will be found on page
559 of this issue.





U. S. Steel Buys  Empire Building.

In one of tho largest private sales ever nego¬
tiated in New York City, the United States
Steel Co. has purchased for its own use, the
twenty-one story Empire Building, at Broadway
and Rector street, through to Church street.
Joseph P. Day was the broker. Judge Elbert
H. Gary, chairman of the Board of Directors
and Finance Committee, acted for the corpora¬
tion. Clarence H. Kelsey, president of the
Title Guarantee & Trust Co.. and Frederick
Potter, as trustees, represented the owners, the
O. B. Potter Trust. The property has been
held at $5,000,000 and is stated to have brought
close to that figure. The U. S. Steel Corpora¬
tion, which will take title to the property in
the name of a subsidiary, will pay all cash for
its permanent home in New York. The cor¬
poration now occupies as a tenant a large
portion   of   the  building.

Judge Gary stated: "Our purchase of the
Empire Building was influenced by the excel¬
lence of its location, by the character of the
building, by the recent very great improve¬
ment and concentration of transit facilities In
this hub of the financial district. We deemed
it wise to procure permanent quarters in this
city."

Mr. Kelsey said : "This purchase in addition
to being of great personal interest and one of
the largest with which I have had the honor
ever to have been connected, is big with po¬
tentialities. It means that the city of New
York is now to be the permanent steel centre
of the world, for the seat of any great industry
is the place from which it is financed. The city
of  New  York  is to be congratulated."

Mr. Day said: "This transaction was a
source of great satisfaction to us personally,
but it was of far greater importance to the
city of New York and its vast business interests
because of its probable effect upon the minds
of prominent men. many of whom only need
the definite leadership and action of some cap¬
tain of industry to decide for them the question





of loi-'ating their permanent headquarters here
or  elsewhere."

The Empire Building occupies a plot of
ground fronting 78 feet on Broadway at the
southwest corner of Rector street, 223 feet on
Rector street, and 50 feet on Church street, and
overlooking Trinity Church on the north. The
total area of the plot is about 14,000 square
feet. When the building was erected, in 1897-
8, its foundation, which consists of 23 steel
caissons, were carried down 50 or 60 feet to
bed rock. Architecturally, the building is a
fusion of those pre-existing styles that were
logically related, the main expression being
early Italian renaissance with features that
are Graeco-Roman. Prior to the erection of
the Empire Building, its site was occupied by
a six-story brownstone office structure—built
in 18i59—which, however, despite its later day
shabbinesp, housed many prominent individuals
and firms. One of its most prominent tenants
was the late Russell Sage, whose office in the
building once was invaded by a fanatic, who,
in an attempt upon the life of Mr. Sage by
"bombing," succeeded only in seriously injuring
one   of   his  clerks.

The new building was erected by Marc Eid¬
litz & Son, from plans by Kimball & Thomp¬
son. Never before had so tall a building been
suggested. The closest approach to it was the
Manhattan Life huilding designed by the same
architects, which was 16 stories in height.
When this was completed in one year's time, it
was believed that the height limit had been
reached. Just prior to 1892, a twelve story
building erected in twelve months time, was
widely heralded as the "last word" in rapid
construction work. Five years later, on June
1, 1897, the twenty-one story Empire building
was begun. The exterior of the building was
fully completed on April 19, 1898. The build¬
ing was open to occupancy within one year
after   the   removal   of   the  old   structure.

Title to the site now occupied by the Em¬
pire building was of dual origin. The first
holders of record being Trinity Church and the
German Lutheran Church. The later Church
occupied only a part of its holdings, the cor¬
ner of Broadway and Rector street being occu¬
pied by an inn. This plot was sold in 1809
to "The Rector, Church Warden and Vestrymen
of Grace Church," and a house of worship soon
afterwards graced the site. About 1837, "from
various causes the present site of the church
having become unsuitable, it was deemed ex¬
pedient to sell the same and, with the proceeds,
to purchase other church lands, etc." Michael
Simpson, of Boston, a merchant, purchased the
site in 1845. Ia was sold to the late Orlando
B. Potter, father of Frederick Potter, in the
year   1884.

After Mr. Potter's death in Jan., 1894. the
property passed into the hands of Frederick
Potter and Clarence H. Kelsey, as trustees of
the O. B. Potter Trust. They erected the Em¬
pire Building, the city's first "sky-scraper,"
which    now    has   become    the   permanent   exe¬





cutive   headquarters  of   the   United   States   Steel
Corporation.





Buys Broadway Corner.

Elmer E. Smathers has purchased from
Frank Bradley the northerly half of the block
bounded by Broadway, Amsterdam avenue, 74th
and 75th streets. It is known as 2128-2134
Broadway. ;i08-316 Amsterdam avenue and 200-
214 West 75th street, and has frontages of 104.6,
100 and 212 feet respectively, with a southerly
dimension of 181.5 feet. The entire frontage pn
75th street and 52.4 feet on Broadway and 50
feet on Amsterdam avenue is improved with a
one-story store. On the southerly 52.4 feet on
Broadway is the old-time five-story fiat and a
store. The remainder of the Amsterdam avenue
front contains two five-story fiats and stores. Mr.
Smathers took the property subject to a mort¬
gage for $500,000. Several months ago an ac¬
tion was started against Mr. Bradley and other
defendants by Cecilia Einstein and others to
foreclose the first mortgage on the property,
which resulted in the plaintiffs securing a mort¬
gage judgment of $556,133. The property was
ordered sold by the court and it was adjourned
from time to time until yesterday, when it was
announced from the stand of Joseph P. Day
that   the   action   had   been   withdrawn.

.\bout eighteen months ago Mr. Smathers
bought the nine-story Welles building at the
northeast corner of Broadway and Beaver
street, and later acquired the Thorley property
at the northwest corner of Fifth avenue and
46th   street.





Stillman  Home Sold.

The large five-story dwelling, with two-story
extension, at 9 East 72d street, for many years
the home of the late James Stillman, financier,
and valued at about $500,000, has been sold to
a client of the office of the Douglas Robinson,
Charles S. Brown Co. While the brokers would
not disclose the identity of the new owner, it
was generally reported in Fifth avenue realty
circles that John Sanford, who has been occu¬
pying  the  house under  lease,   is  the  purchaser.

The property was bought by Mr. Stillman In
1001. It stands on a plot fronting 59.4 feet
and having a depth of 102.2 feet, located mid¬
way between Fifth and Madison avenues. The
city assesses the property at $350,000 for taxa¬
tion purposes. Recently the Stillman heirs sold
the plot at the north corner of Fifth avenue
and 72d street, with privileges of 62 and 175
feet respectively, to a syndicate headed by Fred
F. French, which will improve it with a tall
apartment house. This is separated from the
Stillman  residence by  a 28-foot house.





Lenox Hill Residence Project.

Douglas   L.   Elliman   &   Co.   have   made   two

interesting sales which will result In a hand¬
some addition to the high-class residential col¬
ony on Park avenue at the crest of Lenox HIU.