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Vol. LXXXVIII





SEPTEMBER 30, 1911





No. 2272





REAL ESTATE IN THE GRAND CENTRAL SECTION.

A Terminal With an Unusual Influence,—The Enlarged Gr\n'id Central Will
Increase Values on all Sides,  Instead of in One or Two Directions Only.





THE most potent presentday factors
in the comniercial upbuilding of any
community are the establishment of ade-
ciuate transiiorlation lines and the -con¬
struction of railroad terminals sufRcient
lo handle the attendant travel without un¬
due congestion or loss of time. The first
benefit which results to the community
from construction of this nature is an
increase in the value of real estate ad¬
jacent to the  terminals.

This enhancement is nearly always in
direct proportion to the increase in travel
in the streets leading to the station and
is the result of the increased earning
power of the iand by virtue of tlie added
travel. Consequently, the thoroughfare
on ^vliich a railroad terminal fronts and
on which it has its main entrance is most
affected, while the streets where the side
entrances ar^ placed are beneflted, butto
a lesser degree. On the contrary, prop¬
erty in the rear of a metropolitan raii?/ay
terminal or along the sides of the train
yards, not only does not receive a beneflt





planning of the road's officials and their
endeavor to furnish not only a railway
station, but a civic center, a theatre as
it were, for the staging of big commer¬
cial effects. The station proper will oc¬
cupy practically the same frontage on
■i2d street as did the building which it
will replace and will extend back as far
as 45th street. There will be a raised
roadway on the front and on two sides,
with entrances on Vanderbilt avenue and
Depew place. The rear of the structure,
while not architecturally as handsome as
the front, will, nevertheless, be finished in
a style equal to that employed on the ex¬
teriors of most ot our substantial busi¬
ness buildings.

01 course, this arrangement must of
necessity benefit 4'2d street, Lexington
avenue, opposite the station, and Vander¬
bilt avenue, and these streets will e.K-
perience a steady increase in land values,
proportionate to the constantly increasing
travel. West of the station. 45th street
will see an even greater increase in pro-





become the best location on the upper
East Side for the building of apartment
houses of the highest type, and the build¬
ing projects which have been carried out
there have been among the best in the
entire city. Beyond the shadow of a
doubt, a similar improvement will take,
place below 56lh street when the new ter¬
minal is completed.

As has been stated before, the station
proper will reach to 45th street and this
street is being carried through from Lex¬
ington to Madison avenue with only a
slight grade. The railroad owns all the
property as far north as SOth street, be¬
tween Madison and Lexington avenues,
and above this the property is held in in¬
dividual ownerships. The original plans
for the terminal included the roofing-over
of all the company owned property and
the shedding of Park avenue, in a fash¬
ion similar to that above oGth street. The
plans have been recently modifled. In
response to a strong protest from Park
avenue   property   owners,   the   oflicials   of







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THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION,      SHOWING THE RAISED  ROADWAY AND THE  BRIDGE OVER J2D  STREET.





hut as a rule suffers a depreciation. This
is due to the "fact that there is less traffic
on these streets, thereby rendering them
unsuitable for stores, and tliat tlie noise
and unsightly surroundings of an open
cut make the adjacent property less de¬
sirable for residential purposes.

An excellent illustration of the fore¬
going general proposition can be found
at the new terminal of the Pennsylvania.
The main entrance is on Seventh avenue
and a lesser one in 34th street. Property
on Seventh avenue, in •52d street, which
leads directly away from the station, and
in 34th street, east of the entrance, has
materially increased in value, owing to
the increased travel to and from the sta¬
tion which, in the main, is by way of
these streets. To a lesser extent .S4th
street property west of the entrance has
derived a benefit, but the owners of prop¬
erty on Eighth avenue and in Slst street,
between Seventh and Eighth avenues, have
received only a fancied increase in their
holdings, while the property taken by the
railroad for trackage has no value other
than for transportation purposes.

The new terminal of the New York Cen¬
tra! furnishes a unique exception to the
general rule. In the first place, the great¬
est increase in surrounding land values
will undoubtedly be found to the rear of
the station, and secondly, the land uti¬
lized for a train yard will still be avail¬
able for building and will afford a source
of revenue independent of that received
from transportation. These conditions
will be due entirely to the comprehensive





portion to the present values. This is the
first through crosstown street above 423
street, and as the station is so planned
that all incoming passengers will reach
the street on the Vanderbilt avenue side,
much of the travel to Broadway and
Fifth avenue will naturally be diverted to
45th street. The greatest transformation,
however, will be apparent on Park ave¬
nue, and it is there that the biggest im¬
provements will take place and the
largest value increases be noted,

THE   NEW   PARK   AVENUE.

From 45th to 56th street, this thorough¬
fare has been an open cut for the last
half century, and the noise and dirt from
the road, especially in the old days, of
steam-hauled trains, effectually prevented
a material improvement. North of 56th
street, the avenue has been covered over,
with the exception of a number of ven¬
tilating openings in the center of the
street, which were made more or less_un-
objectionable by parlting. South of ;>6th
street, not a single good buikling has ex¬
isted, both sides of the avenue having
been given over to factories, breweries
and cheap tenements. Above the point,
where the tunnel roofing begins, the
change is at once apparent. Private
dwellings of a good class and tall apart¬
ment houses are to be found, while land
values are strong and are steadily in¬
creasing. Indeed, in the last few years.
Park   avenue,   north   of  56th   street,   has





the road gave deflnite assurance to the
Board of Estimate, at its last meeting,
that the avenue would be entirely roofed
over from 4oth to 56th street and that
openings similar to those farther north
would not be employed. This will mean
that no sight or sound of trains can be
had from the street at any point within
the limits of the terminal. On the roof of
the train yards, the road has already
constructed several buildings on the Lex¬
ington avenue side and wili build others
as needed along Park avenue. The road
will retain the ownership of the prop¬
erty but will, it is expected, lease the air
rights with the necessary foundation
privileges, to operators or investors for
improvement with tall structures.

Owing to the unsettled conditon^.of Park
avenue, the property which is unUer pri¬
vate ownership between ~5Dth and SGth
street is in a very transitory condition
and is highly speculative. As a result, it
is e-.-tremely difficult.tO determine present
values. Not mucli ' property is on the
market for sale, and the average ap¬
praiser would hesitate, or utterly refuse,
to place a value on it. The city, for as¬
sessment purposes, values most the east
side at $1,000 a foot, w^hile the west side
Is taxed on the basis of $1,400 a foot.
One block front, which contains about
fifteen lots, could be purchased at the
rate of a tr-fie over SKjD.OOO a lot, but on
account of the uncertainty as to when the
improvement will be completed and the
consequently high carrying charges, none
but  the largest operators care  to  invest.