Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view
About OCR text.
sANg
VoLLXXXVIII
NOVEMBER ii, igii
No. 2278
A THOROUGHFARE WHICH HAS FOUND ITS LEVEL.
The Character of Mth Street Pretty Definitely Established and Radical
Changes Unlikely to Occur—Trade May Claim Van Beuren Mansion.
The recent abandonment of the old
Van Beuren mansion on 14th street as
a place uf residence has again directed a
certain amount of interest to that old
time thoroughfare and has served lo re¬
call to 'the minds of old New Yorkers the
extraordinary changes which have taken
place In 14th street in the last half cen¬
tury. Its history has' heen the story of
the city's wonderful growth; its changes
have been similar to those on a dozen
other streets, but in a way, 14th street
furnishes a more typical example of the
ultimate destiny of New York real es¬
tate than any other one of our uptown
thoroughfares. Most of the midtown sec¬
tion is still in the making; the destiny
of many of -the streets is difficult to de¬
termine and the character of their use¬
fulness is changing month by month. Not
So with 14th street. Its radical changes
have largely passed; its character is
rather permanently flxed and the part it
is to play for many years to come is
fairly well established. It has reached
its level. It may grow in value, it may
have new huildings, but the chances of
any more radical changes are few, and
whatever growth may be experienced in
the future is almost sure to be slow and
steady. The speculator has had his day
in 14th street and has left it for other
fields; the investor is there to-day and is
likely to stay for years to come.
zone of high class business. In this re¬
spect 14th street is typical and probably
furnishes a greater variety in the way of
business and population than any other
street in the city. Here one may flnd on
tho various blocks good retail business,
some fine old dwellings, a few good apart¬
ment houses, churches, theatres, whole¬
sale lofts, manufacturing plants, and
typical old law tenements, while its near¬
ness to the great cosmopolitan life of the
lower East Side has dveloped in certain
hlocks a business and amusement center
much like that existing on the lower
Bowery a few years ago.
The most valuable and important sec-
lion of the street lies hetween Fourth and
Sixth avenues, and the entire southerly
side between these avnues is given over
to retail shops and department stores.
Fifty years ago, this district was the
high-class shopping center of the city and
many of our most prominent business
houses were located on or near 14th
street. Later on the uptown movement
came, and Fifth avenue, 23d and 34th
streets all took their toll from this street.
For nearly forty years, Macy's depart¬
ment store was a 14th street institution,
and in the days of its flrst success was
undoubtedly the best known and most
popular store of its kind in the city. In
1902 Macy's left its old home and. shortly
afterwards, Tiffany's moved from Broad-
of the high-class trade. The 14th street
stores cater almost entirely to a cheap
class of trade and appeal to the great
mass of the city's population, and herein
lies the greatest promise for tho future
stability of the street. The net profits
from retail business of the highest grade
are greater than from a middle class
trade, but it is a well known fact in this
city that the higher class stores must,
with few exceptions, follow the moves of
their customers and of each other, while
with proper transit facilities the cheaper
trade will go where it must to purchase
its goods. Stores of the class of Tiffany,
Altman and McCreery must depend foz'.
their business on the proximity to the
great railroad terminals and their accessi¬
bility to carriage trade and a difference
ill location of ten or twenty blocks is of
supreme importance. No carriage trade
exists on 14th street, but the section is
liberally supplied with subway, elevated
and street car lines, and these make it
possible for buyers to reach the street
from all parts of the city with little diffl-
cully. The 14th street stores would do
no more business on 2od or 34th streets
than they do where they arc, and as then-
rentals are cheaper than they would he
further uptown, there seems to be no
good reason for making a change for
many years to come.
A 25-foot store on the south side of the
TYPICAL 14TH STREET DWELLING.
OLD HOME OF THE METROPOLITAX MUSEUM OF ART.
Fourteenth street is sometimes called
the coming Grand street of the city, but
while the likeness exists to a certain ex¬
tent, there is a point where the resem¬
blance ceases, and in the difference be¬
tween the two lies the future stability of
14th street. Both have had their ups
and downs. The values of both have
risen high, fallen low and risen again,
and both are on a fairly flnn foundation
to-day. But Grand street caters largely
â– to a local business and the store rentals
of to-day are based entirely on the buy¬
ing ability of the neighboring territory,
while 14th street in its best part is well
supplied with rapid transit and draws its
'business almost entirely from far re¬
moved sections of the city or from subur¬
ban territory. Then, too, the waterfront
ends of 14th street offer much greater
possibilities than do those of Grand street
and are likely to' play an important part
in 'the future value of the street. For
these reasons 14th street is apparently
much hetter off than Grand street and
seems much more likely to either hold its
own or Increase In value.
Nearly all of New York's important
crosstown thoroughfares have developed a
decidely cosmopolitan character due to
the long and narrow shape of the island,
the Important waterways on either side
and the rather sharply defined central
way and 15th street to Fifth avenue.
For a time property values suffered a de¬
cline and retail stores were not much in
demand, while the general opinion pre¬
vailed that 14th street was no longer to
be reckoned an important commercial
thoroughfare and that it would lose en¬
tirely the retail character which had
made it popular for so long. The Hearn
store was of next importance to Macy's
and it was rumored that it also would
move uptown. When Hearn announced
that 14th street suited him and he would
remain there indefinitely a greater feel¬
ing of confidence was established, and be¬
fore long retail merchants from other sec¬
tions located on the street, and when a
short time later Henry Siegel opened the
14th Street Store on the site of the old
Macy huilding, the re-estahlishment of
14th street as a retail center was defl¬
nitely assured. Gradually the vacant
stores were taken up and rentals and
values worked hack to their former levels,
nntil to-day there is not a vacant store
on the south side of the street from
Fourth to Sixth avenue, and rentals are
as high, if not higher, than ever before.
The character of the business has radic¬
ally changed, bot the volume haa in¬
creased and there are probably'moro peo¬
ple shopping to-day on these blocks than
were ever before found there in the time
block betweeri Piftli and Sixth avenues
will rent for. about $12,000, and in the
lilock immediately to the east for about
JSIO.OOO. Between Broadway and Uni¬
versity place there are only a few stores
and these are always in demand. A full
size store would very likely rent there
to-day for close to $15,000. There are
very few transfers of ownership in these
blocks and for this reason it is rather
difficult to place an accurate value on
the land. Within the year, the parcel
No. 4G, 25x103. which is improved with
a six-story loft building, sold for a little
over ii!210,000. and a fair estimate of
value of a vacant lot on the south of the
same block would probably he about
.fl75,000. The reason for so few sales
lies in the fact that the greater part of
the property is in the hands of estates
which hold it only for investment; long
tenn ground leases are made, hut the fee
cannot be purchased. Almost all of the
property on both sides of the street from
Broadway to Sixlh avenue is owned by
the Van Beuren family, which acquired
it by inheritance from the Spinglers. In
17SS Henry Spingler purchased, for some¬
thing like $5,000. twenty-two acres of
farm land, which besides the property
above mentioned, included a greater part
of what is now Union Square. Some of It
was afterward sold off, but the remainder