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RECORD AND GUIDE
86s
^^ ESTABUSHED ^ (WPHEli^^ 1868,
Dev&ieC to RfA.L Estate . euiLoiflc A^crfrrEcruRE >{o9sn!ou> DEawfnml,
Buswfess Alio Themes Of GeKer^I iKTERPM-
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS
Publisfied eVerp Saturdas
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. New YorK
Telephone, Cortlandt 8157
"Entered at the Tost Office at New York. JV". T.. as second-class matler." ^
Copyright by the Real Estaie Record and Builders' Guide Company.
Vol, LXXV.
APRIL 22, 1905.
THE Stock Market has again proved to be top heavy. The
fahric of high prices were built upon too narrow a specu¬
lative margin; and a decline in a few points forced extensive
liquidation. The reason for this lequidation appears to be
chiefly temporary and technical and so far as thia is the ease It
will soon spend its force. The only aspect of the existing situa¬
tion which looks dangerous is the indication of serious dis¬
agreements among the various groups of financial magnates.
Just how serious and imminent these disagreements are, no one
without inside information can say; hut they may lead to a pro¬
longed and exhausting fight. Although every means wjll be
taken to avert such a contingency; the antagonistic feelings are
so bitter and the antagonistic interests run so deep that,
the fighting may come in any event, "With such a contingency
hanging over the market, it is just as well for the smaller fry
to get out and stay out until the situation clears, and the liquida¬
tion of the past week was doubtless due partly to some such
cause.
THE real estate market has been apparently much less ac¬
tive than it was a few weelts back; hut the decrease in
activity is traceable entirely to the diminution of specu¬
lation in vacant land. We see no reason to modify the opin¬
ion expressed last week in relation to this sudden quenching
of the speculative fires. In so far as that speculation is justified
by current conditions, and sustained by sufScient margins, it will
not be permanently injured by mortgage taxation, and in so
far as the speculation in vacant land has failed to possess the
characteristics indicated above, it is unwholesome and could
lead only to disaster. It looks now as if, perhaps, there would
not be any mortgage taxation; and in that case dealings in
Bronx and Dyckman property will become as active as they
were formerly. In other respects the transactions preserve that
volume and character, to which we have become accustomed.
Flats, tenements, dwellings, and business property are all in
excellent demand. It is extremely interesting to note the ex¬
tent to which real estate on the margin of the active districts is
being picked up by fore-handed purchasers. The auction mar¬
ket is doing well, and if it continues to do as well during the
next few weeks, we may expect a very large auction business
during the last of May and June. Building prospects are more
flattering than ever. Now that the probabilities do not favor any
serious labor troubles during the course of the present year,
capitalists will venture to proceed with many schemes which
have been hung up for some time. The number of new projects
announced is very large. The most important of these is a 20-
story building for lower West st—an improvement which will be
followed by the gradual transformation o!! the water front on
the lower West Side. The advantages offered by these sites in
the way of light and air are unique and will result in a stream
of similar projects,
THE probabilities are that Broadway, between 26th and
32d sts, will follow! in the footsteps of Broadway just
south of 23d St. Nothing is more evident than that the
retail store-keepers, who still remain on Broadway south of 23d
st, will have to move to locations further north along the line of
Sth av. They are being crowded out by the wholesale trade, not
because the wholesalers pay bigger prices, but because a region
which they dominate becomes much less available for retail
stores. The northward extension of the wholesale trade will
not, however, stop at 23d st. Lofts are already being built be¬
tween Broadway and 6th av north of 23d st; and in a few
years buildings of this kind will be erected in much larger
numbers. Under such circumstances it is inevitable that Broad¬
way also Willi be devoted chiefly to loft buildings. The value of
property is so high tbat it must eventually be improved with
fireproof structures, and the demand for olfices will not be suf¬
ficient to line the thoroughfare with office buildings. The
inteotion of Mr. Henry Corn to erect on the Metropolitan
Hotel property a building devoted to the wholesale trade, fore¬
shadows the line of development for this part of Broadway,
Its availability for hotel, theatre and restaurant purposes will
steadily diminish. The old hotels in this neighborhood must go
eventually, just as they had to go on that part of Broadway
formerly celebrated by Niblo's Garden and the New York
Hotel, The theatres will be distributed north of 34th st, and
the restaurants also. Of course it will take many years to ef¬
fect these changes,which will depend upon the gradual encroach¬
ments of wholesale business, but they are necessitated by exist¬
ing tendencies. We expect, however, that the loft buildings will
have a tendency to spread further west as well as further north.
It would not be surprising to see them erected as far west as
Sth av, between 14th and 34th sts.
GOVERNOR HIGGINS is hesitating about the mortgage
tax bill, and considering his personal relation to the
measure, the hesitation affords a strong presumption that
he will veto it. The bill, which passed the Legislature, was
distinctly the Governor's idea; and in case he hesitates, after the
Legislature has been so accommodating, it must mean that the
pressure brought to bear upon him not to approve it has been
extraordinarily powerful. The influential Republicans in this
city are all of them opposing it strenuously and the Governor
is being made to understand how disastrous its effects would
be upon the popularity of the Republican party in this vicinity.
It is possible that in spite of all this opposition, he will sign it
in some amended form, because in case he does not sign it, or
flnd a substitute for it, the State will have to face a deficit in
revenue, which could only be made up by falling back upon the
general tax. Both horns of the dilemma are sharp from the
Governor's point of view, and it is incomprehensible that he
does not escape by insisting on a mortgage recording tax. Tbis
tax could be levied if necessary, so tbat it did not affect local
revenues from the property tax. It could contain optional
features, which would remove objections to it without dimin¬
ishing substantially either the revenues or the advantages to be
derived from it, Tbe reasons in its favor are so numerous and
evident that this solution of the problem of mortgage taxation
will in our opinion ultimately prevail. If the annual mortgage
tax can be defeated tbis year, it will probably not become
dangerous agani in the near future. Much, of course, will de¬
pend upon the report of tbe Tax Investigating Commission,
which is going to be authorized. It is very much to be hoped,
in the interests both of the Republican party and the taxpayers,
that this commission can suggest a scheme which will supply
the necessary increase in revenue without burdening one im¬
portant business after another. No party, however strong, can
endure the unpopularity resulting from tbese continual tax raids
upon particular branches of industry.
IT will not be easy for the Rapid Transit Commission to de¬
cide upon the relative merits of the plans for underground
transit on 34th St., presented by the two competing interests.
A four-track Subway connected with the Metropolitan system
and a moving platform transferring to the Interborough sys¬
tem, both have certain advantages; and no matter which pro¬
posal the Commission adopts, 34th St. will be w«Il served. It
is certain, however, that no decision should be taken im¬
mediately. It would be a grave mistake to authorize the con¬
struction of a moving platform on 34th St. independent of the
longitudinal routes upon which bids will be taken next year.
The advantages of the alternative plans from the point of view
of the public are so well balanced that the decision to adopt
either one or the other should depend upon the terms offered by
the competing bidders and the method whereby the 34th St,
Subway can best be fitted into a general Subway system. In the
meantime the incident has been extremely interesting because
of the light which it has shed upon the grouping of the various
interests connected with New York rapid transit. It has brought
out the fact that the Pennsylvania, the New Haven and the Met¬
ropolitan Companies are acting together, and that this alliance
of interest will mean a close agreement of some hind for an
interchange of traffic. Just how far this agreement will go,
and what its consequences will be is not yet apparent; but it
may go very far and bring about portentous results. It is in¬
deed being rumored that the New Haven Company proposes to
terminate its agreement with the New York Central, and estab¬
lish an independent terminal in the vicinity of 32d St, and