374





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





March 25, 1922





Saks & Co. Will Erect $4,250,000 Store on Fifth Avenue

Projected Structure, From Plans by Starret & Van Vleck, Will Become Notable
Addition to City's Famous Shopping District





S.A.KS & CO., retail dry goods
merchants, have announced
their plans for the construc¬
tion of a notable addition to the
Fifth Avenue shopping district.
This firm has commissioned Star¬
rett & Van Vleck to prepare the
designs and specifications for a
modern fireproof department store
building, eleven stories in height,
with basement and sub-basement,
which will be erected on the east
side of Fifth Avenue, from Forty-
ninth Street to Fiftieth Street, at
a cost of about $4,250,000 for
building and equipment.

The plot to be improved was
leased by Saks & Co., some time
ago from the Kemp Realty Com¬
pany for a period of 105 years.
The lease actually calls for a
twenty-one year term with four
renewals of similar duration and
the lessors bind themselves to pay
approximately $35,000,000 in rent
for the use of this property dur¬
ing the next century. The site of
the projected structure involves
frontages of 158 feet on Fifth
Avenue and of 200 feet and 208
feet in Forty-ninth and Fiftieth
Streets respectively. The avenue
frontage takes in the entire block
with the exception of the 42-foot
plot owned by the Democratic
Club and which Saks & Co. have
been unable to obtain by cither
purchase or lease under favorable
terms.

The new Saks Building will cover a plot having an area of
400,000 square feet, and in design and construction will be one
of the finest structures on the Nation's most famous thorough¬
fare, in addition to being the first large retail department store
to seek a permanent location on the avenue north of Forty-sec¬
ond Street.    The plans provide for 500 feet of show windows.

The facades will be constructed of face brick and limestone
and will be divided by four main entrances. Two of these will
be located on the Fifth Avenue front, on either side of the
Democratic Club, and one each on the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth
Street  sides.    Plans  for this  building call  for many improve-







Starrett & Van Vleck, Architects.

ments making for greater service and convenience to both
customers and employees. On the eighth floor there will be
rest rooms, silence rooms, a hospital, a restaurant and other
features specifically designed for the welfare of the hundreds
of workers who will be employed in this store. The setback
at the eighth floor, required under the provisions of the Zoning
Law, will be utilized as a hanging garden for the employees.
Twenty electric elevators will be an important part of the
equipment for handling traffic, both passenger and merchan¬
dise, within the building, and experts say this service will be
sufificient to move 2,000 persons every five minutes.





Real Estate Broker Needs Nerve, Optimism and Enthusiasm





(Continued from page 360)
seller what is a  fair price and should be in a position to know
what is a fair price.

"There are various ways of getting buyers and tenants. We fol¬
low up the expiration of our own leases and those of other brokers
as far as we can. Six months before a lease expires we see the
tenant and we try either to renew his lease, or make a new and
better lease or sell him the property. This is a fruitful source of
dealing. Another source is signs on properties. They work night
and day and unlike some brokers they never sleep. Newspapers
are valuable mediums. They often attract persons who otherwise
would never think of buying.   They are campaigners for victory.

"It may seem strange to you but we even follow up marriage and
death notices in the newspapers.    We even follow up proceedings





in the divorce courts. Out of the mill of death, marriage and
divorce come numerous sales of real property. Real estate is a
very personal business so far as private houses are concerned. It is
often a business with a social phase. We always see both parties
to a marriage. We have gotten so we know family histories pretty
well. They have a bearing on the market. We break in our
brokers in the canvassing department. There they are sure to
learn.

"Never fail to treat either buyer, seller or tenant fairly and
squarely," said Mr. Elliman in conclusion. "Every customer has
friends and tells others of his treatment. The first year we were
in business we did none with our own friends, but we did with
friends of our friends, who told our friends how we had treated
them.    Fair treatment is the  most satisfactory to everybody."