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RECORD AND GUIDE
385
ESTABUSHED^M,iUy:HSW^1868.
Devoted P R^tEsTAii. gui ldij/g V1;fici{itecture .HcfUsnJoU) DEGQf^norf,
Bi/sii/ESS AffoThemes of GEffeRAl Interest.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications should "he addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Fubiished Every Saturday
By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE
Vice-Pres. Sc Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, P. T. MILLER
Nos. 11 to 15 East a4th Street, New Xork City
(Telephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4-133.)
"Entered
at tho Post
Ofl
'ice at
Netc
York. N.
Y-.
as
second-
-class ii[
cttcr."
Copy rii;h ted.
1311.
by
The Record
Sc
Guida 1
Co,
Vol.
LXXXVI.
MARCH 4, 1911.
No,
2242
borrow a certain amount of it on first mortgage on the real
estate purchased and sell income bonds, bearing a compara¬
tively high rate of interest, to investors. All these meth¬
ods inducing the small investor to put iu his nioEey will be
used still more freely in the future than they have heen in
the past; and in order to accelerate the process it would,
be of the" utmost assistance to establish an exchange for
real estate securities of all kinds, so that a quicker market
than any which now exists, could be established for such
securities. Such a marlvet is hound to come, and its com¬
ing will be much accelerated by the gradually increasing
prospects of the real estate investment corporation. For
the day of such corporations is most assuredly coming. They
are rendered inevitable by the large capital required by real
estate operations in a city like New York, arad by the steady
introduction of conservative methods into rea] estate financ¬
ing and speculation. It can be confidently predicted that the
real estate, investment companies of larger capitalization
will make greater strides in popularity and influence dur¬
ing the next ten years than they have during the past ten.
REVOLUTIONARY PROPOSALS,
THE Committee on Congestion of Population, which was,
appointed a year ago to ascertain the best meaus of
distributing population more uniformly, has in its report
to Mayor Gaynor naturally recommended as a primal pro¬
ceeding a reduction of the permissible capacity of tenement
houses in all parts of the city. To effect this, the Commis¬
sion -would permit the height of no tenement house here¬
after erected anywhere to exceed the width of the street on
which it shall stand. The enforcement of such a law In
Manhattan would revolutionize real estate conditions. The
total consequences cannot he readily estimated. The per¬
missible height of a house on a 60-ft. street would be but
flve stories, unless unusual measures were taken to lessen
the thickness of the floors or the height of the ceilings,
when six stories could he obtained on streets of this width.
But under a rule of this sort, it is to be supposed, the
present 5-sty. houses would he permitted to remain In-
deflnitely In the localities where they now constitute the
dominant type. There could be no profltable replacement
of such houses, no reconstruction in neighborhoods already
improved, at least for many years to come, and 'the only
thing to do for speculative builders would be to Improve
every remaining vacant lot and tract in Manhattan and
theu move on to the Bronx. This is not saying that such
a proceeding would not be a good result for the public as
p. whole. The Commission evidently believes that it would,
but it is a prospect for Mauhattan real estate interests to
contemplate. One suggestion made by the committee that
will probably be widely approved, especially in the Bronx.
i^ that the Tenement House Law be so niodifled as to permit
of detached three-family houses outside of the tenement
classjflcation. There is a gen-eral public desire for this in
the Bronx, where the increase in land values and building
costs hag made the two-family dwelling a less desirable
form of investment for homeseekers than it formerly was.
Every meaus should still he used to encourage home-build¬
ing in the Bronx, rather than liave tlie borough given over
entirely in the future to tenements.
TRADING IN REAL ESTATE BONDS.
IT is very much to be hoped that the Real Estate Board
of Brokers will succeed in its efforts to bring about reg¬
ular trading on the Board in the bonds issued as a part of
first mortgages on large buildings, and, indeed, of all real
estate securities. Every practicable means of facilitating
the investment of small sums in paper, secured either by the
ownership of real estate or by mortgages issued against such
ownership, will help the process of real estate investment.
The value of the average lot in Manhattan has been so great,
the cost of the average building so huge, and the amount
of the average mortgage so considerable, that only a rich
man or a large institution could supply all the money re¬
quired hy such transactions. It is necessary, consequently,
in order to attract the small investor, to offer him a small
share of some loan or of the value of some plot, and during
the past twenty years many different methods have been
developed for accomplishing this result. Mortgage companies
lend the money and sell either their own securities to in¬
vestors or the mortgage itself. Bonds are issued against
large buildings, and sold piecemeal to individuals, or corpor¬
ations with large capital invest their money in real estate.
INFLUENCE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA TERMINAL.
RECENTLY several announcements have been made of the
starting of new hotel and amusement enterprises in the
neighborhood of the Pennsylvania Terminal. Besides the
large hotel which will be erected on Greeley Square, and the
other hotel which eventually ig almost sure to be built op¬
posite the station itself, several smaller hotels are being con¬
sidered, as well as one theatre, and a numher of smaller
places of amusement of the same kind. It will be very in¬
teresting to observe during the next few years how far thia
tendency may be expected to carry. The Record and Guide
has always anticipated that the effect of the Pennsylvania
Terminal would be to develop in its immediate vicinity en¬
terprises of this kind, and assuming that the Pennsylvania
and Long Island tunnels would become the two great routes,
whereby the inhabitants of certain parts of Long Island and
New Jersey would reach Manhattan for the purpose of going
to retail stores and of amusing themselves, it seemed rea¬
sonable to a^nticipate that the terminal point of these tun¬
nels would become an important centre of the retail restau¬
rant and theatre business. Until recently, however, thia
view was not conflrmed hy any so marked invasion of tlie
neighborhood by new enterprises of this class. A few new
retail stores and a few third-rate hotels were the ouly ad¬
ditions to its business features which could be traced to the
Terminal. In the meantime the whole surrounding territory
.was being more and more occupied by the wholesale trade,
and it was obvious that if this occupation became complete,
the neighborhood would obtain a character which would
make it much less available for shops, hotels, theatres aud
restaurants. During the current season, however, the work
of building new loft huildings along the line of Seventh ave¬
nue, which has by no means entirely ceased, has been pro¬
ceeding much more slowly; and, on the other hand, there has
been, as we have seen, an increased activity in hotels aud
places of amusement. Is there any reason to suppose that
this increased activity will continue?
AN UNSETTLED QUESTION.
IN view of the greater energy with which the wholesale
trade is pushing into the neighborhood of the Pennsyl¬
vania Terminal, it would be dangerous to predict that it has
any great future as a centre of retail trade, theatres and
the like. AH that can he claimed at present is that the
question is not yet settled. The Pennsylvania Terminal has
not as yet had an opportunity of showing what effect it will
ultimately have; and six or seven years must elapse before
the mature of its influence will be plainly visible. It must
be remembered that hitherto only a certain fraction of the
Long Island trains are running into the Terminal, and that
on the New Jersey side no local trains are using it. Another
couple of years may elapse before anything like a complete
service is installed. Nor is this all. Even after a complete
service is installed its full effects will only be slowly visible.
An improvement such as the Pennsylvania tunnels little by
little creates the business which makes it profitable. Peo¬
ple now employed or doing business throughout the middle
West Side of Manhattan will tend more and more to live in-
neighborhoods across the two rivers, served hy the tunnels;
but it will take some years for this tendency to become dom¬
inant. But as it becomes more and more powerful, an in¬
creasing population in New Jersey and Long Island will be
using the tunnels as their chief highway of travel; and they
will be dependent on the middle West Side in Manhattan, not