Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XVIII.





NEW TORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1876.





No. 452





Published Weekly by

Cfje §lcal Estate %aaxb ^ssodaimit.

TERBIS.
OWE YEAR, in advance....$10.00.
Communications should be addressed to

C.  W.   SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.





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BROADWAY.

If ever the citizens of New York had reason to
hang their heads Avlth shame, it is at the present
time, in contemplating the vacant concUtion of
Broadway buildings. From the Battei-y to Four¬
teenth street no less than two himdred placards of
" To Let" are to-day exhibited, whUe ia the oc¬
cupied stores there is a change for the worse in
the class of tenants. BuUdings heretofore devoted
to the wholesale trade, have been arranged for
offices of various kinds, and of these, it is safe to
say, not one-half are occupied. Those buUdings
that retain their mercantUe character, are princi¬
pally in the hands of the clothing trade ; the once
famous thoroughfare thi-eatening to degenerate
to the level of old. Chatham street. A great
number of stores are temporarUy occupied as
auction marts, jobbiug houses, and places for
the sale of bankrupt stocks. TUere is a large
sprinkling of the poorest class of retail business
and penny shows.. This state of things contrasts
unfavorably with by-gone years, when the chief
AVholesale trade of the city was carried ou along
. Broadway, merging into, and closely crowding,
the best class of retail estabUshments, making this
great artery of our city, as we are boastingly ac¬
customed to claim, a panorama of most active
business, and a spectacle dazzling to the eyes of
country -vdsitors. But this great display is no
longer conspicuous, and a walk along Broadway
has become a doleful and dreary afiEair. We are
wout to attribute this condition to the severity of
the times, and this, no doubt, would answer as
a gehereil cause, The hard times have left an in-
deUble impression upon this great business street,
and the vacancies ^that there occur, are sure ra¬
dices of the untold disasters that have -visited
former tenants. Upon closer analysis we can
discern other causes which have led to this con¬
dition, causes whose remedy lies directly -within
the power of the present OAvners of such property.
They ace mostly the representative pioneers of





real estate investment in this city. To-day the
bulk of these properties are held by f amiUes Avhose
ancestors were purchasers fifty or more years
ago. Their history illustrates in the highest
measure the intrinsic and progressive value of the
best Ncav York propei'ty. Lots which were
purchased at a few hundred, or at the most a few
thousand doUai-s, have become so valuable that
any one of them to-day, after allowing for the re¬
cent shrinkage m values, would represent a good
.sized fortune. A Umited number of these proper¬
ties have passed out of the "hands of the original
OAvners at a comparatively recent date, and the
present oAvners, no doubt, have invested fabulous
sums on the strength of foi-mer exorbitant rents
and flourishing business. The highest prosperity
of our mercantUe mterests has been heretofore
concentrated in Broadway, where, in times past
the most manifold business has been transacted,
.and the largest fortunes reaUzed. At one time,
indeed, it might safely have been said that in the
properties themselves, and the capital invested in
the business there carried on, a larger amount of
aggregate Avealth was represented than in any
similar length of street in the world. Hence the
OAvners of this Broadway property have become
accustomed to'the contemplation of large values,
and have been educated to the receipt of enor.
mous incomes in the shape of rent.

The times, however, have changed and the
high rents have so exhausted the business houses
which formerly occupied these buildings, that
many of them have gone into banki-uptcy. We
are aU f amUiar with the recent case where a lease
was effected at the comparatively low rent of
825,000. Yet, in less than six months time, the firm
assuming this obligation, found itself insolvent
through the f aUure of business, and is now passiag
through bankruptcy.

The propositions present themselves fairly and
squarely to landlords—whether m attempting to
hold their premises at old rates they "wiU be con¬
tent to have them remain vacant, or to accept
weak or failing firms, and let their buUdings
undergo an ordeal of misuse and loss of rent,
Avorse than emptiness, or whether desiring to see
the street bi-istle again with activity and reani¬
mate with the stir of successful business they AviU
fix their rents on allAong and rational scale.
There is not the sUghtest question but that every
store on Broadway, \Adthui the Umits we have
named, could be readily flUed with solvent and
successful tenants, if the rents were lowered.in
accordance with the times. Instead of this, Aye
find the best retail business crowded into Four¬
teenth street, Sixth avenue and upper BroadAvay.
The importers and jobbers are driven into
Broome, Grand, and. the streets ruiming paraUel
to Broadway, whUe only the meaner classes pf
business and the most risky kinds of wholesale
trade are found courageous enough to encounter
the high tariff rents that are stUl demanded for
Broadway stores. It is safe to say that there are
tAvice the number of business firms on the streets
adjoining Broadway who would gladly transfer
then- locations to the main thoroughfare; and the
places left vacant by them would be quickly fiUed
up with a smaller class of trade
We have grown accustomed during the past





few 3'ears to the deserted appearance Avhich
Broadway noAV presents, but we hope that in the
immediate future sufficient practical sense AviU be
mfused into the minds of the owners of these
properties to induce them to break the deadlock,
to offer their properties at moderate rates, and
thus secure a resumption of the foi-mer business
prosperity which has ever before characterized
this favorite thoroughfare.

Any valuation of BroadAvay pi-operty, which ex
ceeds from tAA'o to four thousand dollars a front
foot for improved property, is unduly inflated
for the present time, and rents based upon any
such valuation, aatU surely fail of acceptance. We
know of stores on this line which are now offered
for one-half the amomit formerly obtamed, and
even at this reduction tenants are Avith difBculty
secured.

As compared with other standards, we shoiUd
judge that the gross value of Broadway property
should be marked doAvn at least one half, and
that rental values, for at least the jiresent, should
be reduced one-half or two-thirds, from the points
of highest altitude.





THE SAVINGS BANKS.
A report comes to us, apparently AveU authenti¬
cated, that the leading Savings Banks of the city
have determined, on and after the first of Janu¬
ary, 1877, to reduce the rate of interest, to be paid
on deposits, to four per cent, per annum; and that
this measure avUI be preparatoi-y to the reduction
of the rate on mortgage loans from seven to six
per cent. We cannot but regard this poUcy as
Avise and salutary on the part of the banks, and in
keeping with the conservative management which
has heretofore marked the best of these institu¬
tions. The effort on the part of Savings Banks
to earn high interest, honestly if possible, but at
any rate to earn it, has resulted m many grievous
errors and abuses. The low rate of interest,
which has preyaUed in the open market for nearly
three yeai-s, threatens to become permanent. At
aU events, able fUianciers consider low rates for
money as likely to be characteristic of the market
for many years to come. AVhatever differences
of opinion may now be entertained as to the Avis-
dom of this course on the part of the Savings
Banks with reference to their depositors avo can¬
not but think that the com-se of future events
wiU justify it. The mass of their depositors
are not dependent upon this interest as in¬
come ; but, on the contrary, prefer to aUow its
small accretion to be added to the principal and
the safety of their principal is the paramount con¬
sideration. They have had an opportunity recent¬
ly to study the effect of promises of large returns.
In some cases as high as six or seven per cent being
offered as annual interest, and the sequel has been
the sAvamping of both principal and interest in
the maelstrom of disaster. We are happy to say,
that there are SaAdngs Banks in this city which
adorn its banking interests, and are a credit and
hon'or to the country ; and it is these, which uoav
propose to take the initiative in the estabUshment
of a lower rate of interest. The immediate appar¬
ent loss to the depositors AviU be more than counter-.
balanced by the additional security in the safety
of their investment.   For the real estate interest^