December 19,1908





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





"95





OPPORTUNITIES IN WATER FRONT PROPERTIES.





By  CHARLES W. TREMBLEY.





PERHAPS there is no class of property that felt the financial
crash so perceptibly as did water fronts, and it is equally
true that this class of property is among the first to reflect the
signs of improvement that we all feel have come over the
scene.

The embargo laid on the sale of riparian rights in the State
of New Jersey following the recommendation of ex-Governor
Stokes to lease, not sell them, and the hesitation on the part
of Governor Fort to sanction the sale of them, worked a
great injury to property owners and brokers, and did much to
retard sales during the years of 1906 and 190T, and the con¬
clusion to resume selling the grants in fee simple is a very
wise one. The paper read before the Riparian Commissioner
on this subject by Mr. William Cloke was
admirable.

The taking up of the water front in most
instances means a very large undertaking of
some kind, and the cost of the property repre¬
sents a very small proportion of the outlay
involved. ■ He was a brave man indeed who
was willing to proceed last fall. In most in¬
stances, even though the plans for the pur¬
chase had proceeded to a point where they
were almost matured or closed, they were
summarily broken off. I am pleased to state
at this time that inquiry is very spirited, and
am confident that water fronts are about to
enjoy an era of activity not before known.

Eight thousand feet or more were taken out
of the market in 1006 and 190T between the
mouth of Kill von Kull and Perth Amboy, I
venture the assertion that no class of real
estate has advanced so rapidly in value during
the past three years, and justly so, as good
water fronts, and one does not have to go
far to divine the reason for this; it is the law of supply
and demand.

The opportunity offered at the present moment for specula¬
tion and investment in water fronts is little short of phenomenal.
He who thinks that the future has been discounted in prices
obtaining now for water fronts is a fallacious reasoner, and
he will presently awake to the fact that the upward move
has only just commenced.

As an opportunity for investment take, for example, the
water fronts in Bayonne. Bayonne occupies a strategic po¬
sition, and no better labor conditions obtain anywhere. Who
shall say what these grand water fronts one thousand feet
deep, with the immediate service of flve railroads, are worth?
They are too good (but not too valuable) for industrial use.
When there is not a berth to he had in New Tork, who shall
say what these commercial water fronts almost in sight of
the city are worth? It must be remembered Bayonne is in
the free lighterage zone and has every other known advan¬
tage. It is true that the Bayonne water fronts are slightly
further from New Tork tban the Bush terminal, but they are
almost in sight of the Battery,, in the mouth of the Kill von
Kull, and so long as they are within the free lighterage limit,
the increased distance does not signify. The cost of han^l-
ling is the same in both cases.

In my mind the most attractive of all opportunities for the
small investor and for industrial concerns to whom immediate
railroad service is not essential or imperative lies on the
Arthur Kill, at Mariners Harbor and Tottenville. A gold mine
with free gold and an unbroken lead is not to be compared
with this property as a money making investment right now;
for owing to the absence of a railroad the sale of this wonder¬
ful property halts, and where it now flgures in the hundreds,
say from ,11250 to $T00 an acre, it will instantly jump to the
thousands directly the railroad becomes a reality. I say with¬
out fear of contradiction that there is not such an opportunity
offered anywhere in water fronts as at this point. It will,
however, be too late when a railroad Is established to reap
any such handsome proflts as those indicated.

I have come to regard it as a law of nature that the railroads
let the water front out, and in relation to this last property.
It is to be regretted that the Sound Shore Branch of the B.
& O., long since surveyed, should not be finished, or at least
well under way.

With the coming of our new Merchant Marine called into
life or created by the Ship Subsidy bill (I still have faith that
the bill will become a law, as It was passed by the Senate
though not by Congress) tbe question arises, where are they
to find berths in New York Harbor'? So much of the good
water front has been taken out of the market by industrial
concerns that there Is. very little in sight for commercial
purposes. The necessary railroad facilities for commercial
uses can  be found  at  the present  moment.    I  mean  property







CHARLES W. TREMBLEY.





suitable for big warehouses and railroad terminals that is
practically already developed and can be used as soon as
docks are built. The available parcels on this stretch of water
front can be summed up on one's two hands.

If New York City desires to increase her commercial su¬
premacy as a port of entry both she and the Government must
permit New Jersey to extend her pier lines, wherever prac¬
ticable. She must aid and not retard. Just encourage by con¬
certed action with New Jersey the development of Bayonne
Cove. A glance at the map will show the magnificent situation
at the northwest side of the New York Bay for the future com¬
merce of a continent. Let any one who desires to get a realizing
sense of the possibilities here view it from the top of IT Battery
pl, a point of vantage where you can look
directly down on the whole tract. Surely the
time must now be near at hand when this
whole Cove will be developed. The bulkhead
line here lies from 3,300 to 5,500 feet off shore,
and even beyond this point the Government
grants the privilege of placing islands of solid
fill for a considerabie distance. The number of
miles of good water front that can be created
here by a series of bulkheads and canals are
almost illimitable, and the greatest desidera¬
tum is, that the bottom is susceptible of being
pumpdredged. The spoil removed can be util¬
ized for a flll.

Every one appreciates the value of the east¬
ern end of Staten Island, with its deep draught
for warehousing, for basins and for ship¬
yards, and the value lent to it by the bulk¬
head line being 1.100 feet off shore. The rail¬
road facilities here are almost nil, which prac¬
tically takes the property out of the market for
industrial purposes. On the north shore of
Staten Island, from Port Richmond to Mariner's Harbor, there
remains undeveloped a considerable stretch of the finest deep
water front in all of the East. Here the channel of the Kill
von Kull hugs the shore, but development is retarded on-ac¬
count of the absence of good railroad facilities.

The geographical situation of Staten Island to New York
and New York Harbor is such that it is little short of a crime
that her north shore should not be let out and treated in such
a way that it would be too valuable for industrial use and
would furnish New Tork with some of the much needed com¬
mercial water front. The War Department has recommended
the removal of the rocks at Bergen Point Light, so as to
straighten the channel from Newark and Elizabeth through
the Kill von Kull to New Tork Bay, and has also recommended
the running of a straight channel north of Shotters Island, be¬
tween Elizabeth and Bayonne.

Of the Arthur Kill and the Kill von Kull taken together
there can be but one consensus of opinion, i. e., that it is one
of the greatest waterways in all the East. It is teeming with
commercial activity Those who have made a study of this
subject know that since the Government completed the 21 foot
channel at low water, completely around the island, thus pro¬
viding a convenient inside channel for herself and inciden¬
tally doing a great service for all of the property owners for¬
tunate enough to have a frontage on it, that it rivals the far-
famed Sault Sainte Marie in the matter of tonnage, for even
in the year 1906, hefore the dredging work was done, 21000 000
tons passed through this waterway. Manufacturers have 'not
been slow to appreciate the great opportunities on this chan¬
nel, with the result that there- are only eight or ten parcels
that can be had on the Jersey shore, from Elizabethport to
Perth Amboy At Port Reading, S. L, we find a draught from
20 feet to 34 feet at the very bank, the service of many rail¬
roads on the property, an unlimited supply of the best water
under S5 pounds gravity pressure, good labor conditions and
every other known advantage, including an abundance of coal
at the lowest market price, for here we find one of the greatest
coal depots in the world.

Newark Bay, above the Central Railroad of New Jersey
Bridge, is a great body of shallow water except for the 16-
foot channel now being dredged by the Government to Newark
This bay by proper dredging and filling can be converted into
a monster basin second only to upper New Tork Bay The
cut or "spoil" will largely provide the fill, for the surrounding
lowlands, and a general railroad system of the United States
would  find   here  an   ideal   termini.

Factory population will ultimately shift to those localities
in and near the port of New Tork, where raw material and
finished products can be taken in and sent out most econom¬
ically The cheap lands of New Jersey its undeveloped and
extensive water front susceptible of inexpensive development
together with the overwhelming advantage of .being situated at
the   Great   Atlantic .Railroad, -terminal   of   the - United   States