282





RECORD AND   GUIDE





August 12, 1905.





up there will be trouble; but at the same time a business man
would be foolish not to tread warily and prepare against pos¬
sible disappointments. The best way to safeguard the existing
prosperity will be to take it temperately.





Real Estate Conditions at Other Centers.

(Special Reports to the Record and Guide.)
SAN FRANCISCO.
The month of June witnessed the largest totals of real estate
saies for any single month in the history of San Prancisco. There
were 792 sales recorded for a total of $6,911,395. The figures for
the month of October, 1904, when the totals were ?6,073,633, were
the high^t previous monthly record. The figures for the month
just closed are the more remarkable, for in October, 1904, the
gpreekles-Phelan sale for $2,600,000 was recorded, while the
largest sale in June was for .|700,000. Not only were the figures
for the month just closed the highest yet, but the half year
ending June SOth was also a record-breaker. There were 4,321
sales recorded in the past six months for a grand total of $29,-
46S,2S3. This is over $3,500,000 higher than the figures for the
first half of 1903, the best previous half year, when the figTirea
were $25,738,185.

Building operations for the half year amount to $11,463,076,
made up as follows: Frame buildings, $5,805,336; brick, $4,985,-
840; alterations, $671,900. This is a large increase over last year,
the building operations for the entire year 190i amounting to
$16,916,118.

The development of the State in numerous chaunels ia pro¬
gressing most favorably. San Francisco is prosperous and grow¬
ing because California is actually being developed. The com¬
mencement of work on the Western Pacific Railroad by the
Goulds not only indicates progress, but proves that this large
Eastern railroad interest feels that they must be represented in
California by a through line of their own if they expect to get a
share of the increasing business and commerce of the State.

Building contracts for the month were filed as follows: Frame
buildings. $1,226,224; brick, $997,559; alterations, $153,145. Total,
$2,376,928.

That there are more than the usual number of vacant houses
and flats during the summer months, is apparent to everyone
who travels about the city. This is caused by an overbuilding of
flats. Many new ones had never found tenants even before the
summer began. Increasing population will remedy this if those
who are thinking of building will heed the warning. Most of our
savings banlcs realize this state of affairs and have been de¬
clining applications for loans from those who were contemplating
the erection of fiats in unsuitable locations.

THOMAS MAGEE & SONS.

ROCHESTER.

For several years the city of Rochester has been enjoying re¬
markable prosperity, a large number of factories have been
moved here during the past five years and located at the extreme
east and west ends of the city. This has greatly stimulated
the demand for houses and materially increased rents, but it has
not materially affected real estate values until this year.

The building operations for the past three years were as fol¬
lows:

3902..........$2,913,142    The   population   in   1860   was     48.924

1903..........  1.853,-571      '•            "           "    1S80    "       89,363

1904..........  4.225,927      "            "           "     1900    "      162,608

1905 to July Ist 2,738,142      "            "           ■'    1905 about 190,000

The number of deeds recorded in the County Clerk's office, so
far this year, is probably one-third more than last year. Prices
are steadily advancing, both in business and residential property.
Land on Main st in the best retail section is held at $3,000 to
$4,000 a front foot.

Practically no new sectioH or tracts are being opened, but sev¬
eral tracts that have lain dormant for years are now being devel¬
oped, and many of the older parts of the city are being improved.
Yours respectfully,
C. P. GARFIELD REAL ESTATE CO.,

—                        C. P. Garfield.

MONTREAL. ■

Mr. Craddock- Simpson, president of the Craddock Simpson Co.,
leading real estate insurance and financial agents of Montreal,
favor the Record and Guide with the following information:

The city of Montreal—the principal ocean port of Canada for
a.bout seven months of the year—is sharing in the general pros¬
perity of the country, and the growth of population is increasing
the demand for house accommodations, of which the supply has
been and is insufficient. Rents, both of residential and business
properties, have been increasing for the last few years, and they
have now about reached a point when a reasonable return can
be obtained from the erection of houses, fiats, warehouses and
shops, and in consequence a fairly active construction movement
is now on.

The transfers of real estate in the city for the last few years
are as follows:
Years.

1902..........1,891 transfers, amounting to $9,093,868

1903..........2,113         "                "         .'    12,380.557

ISOi..........2,216         "                "         "   11.840.975





During the first six months of the present year (1905) there
have been 1,446 transfers, amounting to $8,254,606,

Nine hundred and forty building permits were issued during the
first six months of this year, and the cost of the work is stated to
be $2,938,839, as compared with 686 permits during the cor¬
responding period of 1904. the cost of the work then being $1,883,-
147. These figures are for buildings within the city proper, and
do not include the large number of buildings in the immediate
suburbs where there has been a good deal of activity, notably
in the southwestern and in the northwestern parts of the city,
the former being an extension of the best residential section, and
the latter a location for a cheaper class of houses in the vicinity
of railway workshops and other factories.

There is very little speculative demand as yet for real estate,
nearly all the sales made having been for actual use, so that the
market is in a healthy condition. The older parts of the city
are being improved and some fine office buildings have been
erected on St, James st and Place d'Armes.

St. Catherine st has become the leading street in Montreal for
high-class retail business, and a number of properties have
changed hands during the last twelve months at ever-increasing
prices.

The rapid growth of northwestern Canada and the Immense
sums of money to be spent in railway development during the
next eight or ten years, will all tend to benefit Montreal, and will
make its real estate something to be desired.





ATLANTA.

Forrest and George Adair, w^ho have been engaged in real
estate at Atlanta, Ga., since 1863, and are familiar with the
upbuilding of that city, answering a request for information
concerning the real estate status there this present year, write
the Record and Guide as follows:

It is true that during the past year the real estate transfers
jn Atlanta have greatly exceeded that of any preceeding year;
and we really think that if the records could be compiled, it
would show that they have doubled any year in our history.

The good price that has been obtained by the farmers for
their cotton crop, the successive years of remarkably fine fruit
crops, and the general disposition on the part of the farmers to
more greatly diversify, has put the South generally in a better
condition than it has been in since the Civil War.

Furthermore, during Ihe past four or five years, people in
this section have been devoting more attention and capital to
manufacturing. The erection of a large number of cotton mills
throughout the South has put us far ahead of New England on
that line. Throughout Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia the
iron and coal fields have been developed to a remarkable extent.

Near Atlanta, we have wonderful natural resources, being in
close proximity to pine and hardwood timber lands, and in min¬
erals we have iron, gold, slate, marble, and others, that are
being successfully mined and quarried.

The people are industrious, liberal in their views, spend little
time discussing politics, religion or the race problem; and in the
main, are actively at work, every man doing his part toward the
upbuilding of our entire section.

Atlanta, being an important railroad center and distributing
point, with climatic conditions unsurpassed, having an altitude
of about 1,200 ft, above the sea, and with the various railroad
systems reaching us in every direction, has. of course, reaped a
very great benefit from this general prosperity. The building
record for this year is greater than ever known; the government
reports show that the postal receipts have made a phenomenal
increase, the bank clearances are much larger; and, indeed, by
applying any test that is known it can be readily se^n that our
progress has been great; and, of course, all this leads up to
the information that you seem to desire as to the condition of
the real estate market.

We regret that we have no statistical information as to the
number of conveyances recorded, etc.; but. being in close touch
with the market, we know that the year 3904 and 19€5 will
show a greater number than any three years of Atlanta's
history.                                      FORREST & GEORGE ADAIR.





Temporary Edifice for St. Thomas's.

The Andrew J. Robinson Co., of 123 East 23d st, has signed a
contract to build for St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, a tem¬
porary structure of brick, on the site of the brownstone Gothic
edifice destroyed by fire, on the northwest corner of 5th av and
53d St. The structure will cost about $25,000, and will be of
fireproof construction.

The Rev. Ernest M. Stires, rector of St. Thomas's, informed
the Record and Guide that there will then be built around thia
temporary place of worship a permanent edifice which will be
almost a duplicate of the former building.

The arrangement with the Robinson Co. includes clearing' the
site and removing the unsafe parts of the walls. The tower
seems to be intact, and the present intention is to permit it
to remain. Otherwise, about sixty per cent, of the church walls
will have to come down.

The temporary building will be of firenroof construction, and
necessarily of smaller ground dimensions than the present build¬
ing,     At  last   accounts  no  architect had   been  selected,   but it