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July 30, 1910
RECORD AND GUIDE
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Communications should t>0 addressed tSi
C, W. SWEET
Published EVery Satardag
By THE KECORD AND GTJIDE CO.
Fresident. CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGES
Vice-Pres. & GeDl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER
Nos. 11 to IG Baat 24tli Street, New York City
{Telephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.) ''
"Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., us sccond-elass matter."
Copyrighted. IfllO, Ijy The Record & Guide Co.
Vol. LXXXVl.
JULY 30, 1910.
No. 2211
THERE has been no lack of seasonable dullness in the
real estate market during the past few weeks; but the
number of transactions, few as they are, have included
several of considerable importance. In one case a retailer
now in 23d s_treet leased a corner in the most expensive
part of Fifth avenue, which indicates that even at prevail¬
ing prices and during dull times business men can be found
who can afford to secure locatious ou the avenue. On the
other hand, two arrangements have recently been made by
picture dealers for gallery sites on Madison avenue near
42d street, and these announcements show very plainly that
only the very wealthiest of the art and furniture dealers
can afford to compete for Fifth avenue sites. They always
require a large amount of space in which to display their
wares; and rluring several months of the year their sales
are reduced to almost nothing at all, which makes a heavy
rent peculiarly burdensome. They naturally seek, conse¬
quently, locations which are good but which are not ex¬
cessively expensive. Madison avenue between 39th and 4Sth
streets seems excellently adapted to their purpose, and they
may be expected hereafter to gather in that vicinity in in¬
creasing numbers. Not only are the picture dealers being
crowded off Fifth avenue by the high prices, but the old
furniture dealers are being puslied out of lower Fourth
avenue, while lower Fifth avenue is becoming less eligible
for their business. From all these different sources they
are likely to converge upon Madisou avenue, north of 39th
street—the only difficulty being that there is not very much
space for them thereabouts. Eventually, they will spread
all the way up Madison avenue to 5 9th street, but their prog¬
ress north of 4Sth street will be slow, because of the nature
of the existing improvements on that part of Madison avenue.
ANOTHER interesting development which has gathered
headway recently has been the success of Trinity
Church in finding business purchasers and tenants for its
property in the Greenwich district. It looks as if the long-
heralded but long delayed improvement of this section for
business purposes had really begun; and there is every rea¬
son why it should begin, because whatever its disadvantages
it is assuredly the cheapest property in Manhattan available
for business. It becomes, consequently, peculiarly desirable
for liues of trade which need locations in Manhattan but
cannot afford high rents. Business men who have to satis¬
fy such a need will do well to find permanent locations in
the Greenwich section during the next few years, because
in the course of a comparatively short time prices will ad¬
vance very considerably. The prolongation of Seventh ave¬
nue aud the widening of Varick street will necessarily in¬
crease both values and rents, if only because property near
the improvement will be assessed for its cost. After the
district is opened up in this way it will become practically
as convenient for many business purposes as is the section
on either side of Seventh avenue, north of 14th street; and
values will approxiraate the same level.
THE most interesting single announcement, however, which
has heen made recently was that of the project for a
commercial hotel -at Greenwich, Cedar and Liberty streets.
The plans of the promoters were said to include a number
of new conveniences, intended specially for business men,
which have already been' successfully tried in London.
As it turned out, the project consisted merely of gossip, but
any such enterprise would he attended with a good deal of
risk. The location selected is inconvenient to the two rail¬
road stations hy which the great majority of business men
wiil l_eave and reach Manhattan, viz., the stations of the
Pennsylvania and of the New York Central Companies.
The streets upon which the new hotel will be situated are
absolutely dark and dead at night, and, if the business man
wants to combine some amusement with his more serious
occupations, he will have no better means of reaching 42d
street and Broadway than by the Sixth avenue elevated
road. Finally, the location is convenient to only a small
portion of Manhattan's business district. It will not appeal
to a man who comes to New York either to buy or sell
goods, because the majority of people with whom he will
wish to trade are situated north of Canal street, and before
long they will be situated north of Bleecker street. For
all these reasons it looks as if the proprietors of a new
commercial hotel in this neighborhood might find it difficult to
keep ail of their four hundred rooms occupied. Their chance of
so doing would be much better in case tbe proposed Seventh
avenue Subway were buiit. Such a tunnel would bring the
proposed location within seven minutes of Long Acre Square,
and would enable the sojourner in the hotel to reach a far
larger range of business and other engagements. On the
other hand, it must be remembered that the Astor House
is usually well occupied and has remained fairly popular
until the present day. It must also be remembered that
one consequence of the construction of the Broadway-Lexing¬
ton avenue Subway may be the destruction of this time-
honored hostelry. If it does go, there should be room for
a modern hotel to take its place.
THE owners of real estate in the outlying boroughs should
read carefully an article which recently appeared in
the "Commercial and Financial Chronicle," discussing the
construction of Subways and elevated roads by means of
assessment bonds. The conclusion reached by the article
is that in the majority of cases Suhways and elevated roads
which are constructed in this manner, will probably eat
up and more than eat up any benefit which the property-
owner will derive from the construction of the road. The
estimate is that it would cost at least $150 a lot for the
construction of the line, probably as much more for its
equipment, and possibly as much more for the deficiency
from operation. The estimate does not look very sound to
the Record and Guide, for we believe that any rapid tran¬
sit road, built within the limits of New York City,, the cost
of which was charged off, could be operated profitably by
a private compaiiy. But making allowance for any errors
in the calculations of the "Chronicle" and any exaggera¬
tions in its conclusions, it certainly draws up a strong in¬
dictment against this method of financing rapid transit con¬
struction. The profit accruing to the. property-owner from
rapid transit construction would, of course, become less in
proportion as his property was distant from the central bor¬
ough; and it is only in the case of remotely situated sec¬
tions that assessment bonds would be necessary. The re¬
sult would be, consequently, the distribution of any benefit
over a much larger area^ and a comparatively small in¬
crease in value for any one owner. Whether or not, as
the "Chronicle" claims, there would be nothing left for the
property owner after his assessments were paid, there would
certainly be very little; and we imagine that after one or
two experiments in rapid transit construction on this method
every further attempt to apply it would meet with vigorous
resistance from the local property-owners. They will prefer
to keep their property and wait for rapid transit until
rapid transit can be made to pay for itself. The construction
of rapid transit lines by means of assessment bonds is not
in their interest, as they will soon learn. It is in the in¬
terest of the better distribution of the population of the
city, because it will enable comparatively poor people to
reach and take up their residence on much cheaper prop¬
erty than they could otherwise afford. The city stands to
gain a great deal by this method of financing rapid transit
construction, because it diminishes in perpetuity the fixed
charges incurred by the passenger routes; but the property-
owner stands to lose much more than he thinks; and as
soon as he finds how much he stands to lose he will cease
to urge the laying out of routes to be financed in this way
upon the Public Service Commission.