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JANUARY 27, 1912
EFFECT ON REALTY OF THE NEW CIVIC CENTER.
Despite the Undesirable Character of Much of the Adjacent Property
the General Effect of the Proposed Improvement Will be Benefical.
Now that the selection of a site for a
new County Court House has become
an accomplished fact, the effect which
the plan will have upon adjacent real
estate is a matter of great interest to
brokers and professional operators. For
years the selection of a site has been be¬
fore the public and at one time when a
location on Union Square seemed liKely
to be adopted, considerable buying in
anticipation of future profits was in¬
dulged in. The fact
City. On the eastern border are Baxter sufficiently attractive in the surroundings
street, long notorious for the methods
employed by its merchants in selling
goods, the Italian colony on Mulberry
street and the rookeries of Chinatown,
the latter a wholly undesirable settle¬
ment, tolerated only because it seems un¬
avoidable; the Avhole forms a territory
considered one of the least desirable in
the entire City. Within the borders of
the proposed site is the old Five Points,
k
that sevieral sites
were under consider¬
ation and the uncer¬
tainty surrounding
the final selection,
were apparently suf¬
ficient to deter any
considerable specula¬
tive buying: in this
instance and the
prospects are that
the city for once will
be able to obtain the
site for a municipal
improvement with¬
out having to pay
more than a fair
value for the land
acquired. The prop¬
erty involved, it has
been decided, will be
obtained wherever
possible, at private
contract and the cost
and delay attendant
upon acquisition by
c o n d e mnation be
thereby obviated.
About 100 parcels
are to be taken over
and within a few
days the Court
House Board will be
ready to receive pro¬
posals for sale from
owners, whose hold¬
ings are affected.
It is generally con¬
ceded among real es¬
tate men that the
establishment of a
comprehensive muni¬
cipal center at the
selected spot will
have a foeneficia.l ef¬
fect on surrounding
territory, but just
how great the ad¬
vantage will be ap¬
pears to be some¬
what a matter of
conjecture. The
benefits to accrue
froin the majority of
large metropolitan
improvements can
generally be fore¬
seen, but the nature
of the territory in¬
volved in this case is
suuh as to create a
wide divergence of
opinion as to the
degree and direction
of the greatest im¬
provements.
The territories bor¬
dering on the new
Court House site are
extremely diversi¬
fied in character and
the streets so ir¬
regular and appa.r-
entiy haphazard in
.their lay out, as to
confuse any but a
careful student of the locality- On the
north and west is a fairly substantial
wholesale and manufacturing center, not
highly improved, it is true, yet hous¬
ing a necessary and desirable class of
distributors and producers. One block to
the west is Broadway, a main artery of
the City where land values are always
high arid expensive buildings a common
feature. Chambers street. Park Row and
City Hall Park adjoin on the south, and
the area embraced is one of the busiest
and most important sections of the lower
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S 77
to draw any better class of tenants and
there is no reason to think that the im¬
provements will have any tendency to
drive the present inhabitants to seek
other quarters. If the proposed plan of
carrying City Hall Place through the
block on the north to a junction with
Park and Worth street is carried out, it
is possible that either new-law tenements
or mercantile buildings may be erected
on the easterly side
of this street. The
permanent light af¬
forded by the park
would be advantage-
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THE CIVIC CENTER AREA AS IT NOW IS, SHOWING THE BUILDINGS TO BE
DEMOLISHED.
a quarter of a century ago one of the
worst criminal districts in this or any
city of the world. Of late years it has
lost its vicious character and has come lo
be occupied somewhat for business pur¬
poses; it will be entirely absorbed by the
park surrounding the Court House,
It is diiBcult to see how this area east
of the site will be affected to any mate¬
rial degree, either in the way of increased
land values or new buildings. It is main¬
ly an old-law tenement district occupied
entirely by foreigners. There is nothing
ous to either form o'f
building. The recon¬
struction of Baxter
street wiil hardly
have any effect as
the new park will be
on the west of the
extension and Mul¬
berry Bend Park, in
its rearranged form
on the other side.
Pearl street is to a
certain extent an im¬
portant artery of
traffic and it may be
that some of the fac¬
tory buildings now
at the Five Points
may locate here.
Undoubtedly the
greatest benefit from
the Court House site
will be derived by
the owners of prop¬
erty on Lafayette
street.
This has always
been a fairly import¬
ant north and south
thoroughfare, vary¬
ing in width from 80
to 100 feet and form¬
ing a direct line of
travel for traffic
coming from the
Brooklyn Bridge and
the lower wholesale
section to Astor
place and the sur¬
rounding manufac¬
turing and jobbing
district. The blocks
between Reade ajid
Leonard streets now
possess only two or
three buildings of
any size and the per¬
manent light which
the park will offer"
must surely make
these blocks ex¬
tremely desirable for
a substantial class of
heavily constructed
Ioft and manufactur¬
ing buildings with
retail stores on the
ground floor. Stores
in these blocks should
rent well, as the
number of people
which must of neces¬
sity daily visit the
Court House will
furnish business for
restaurants, lunch
rooms, cigar and
drug stores, station¬
ery shops and others
handling necessities
rather than luxuries. The market thus
formed may also extend to Park Row at
least between the Municipal Building and
Worth street. Builders who have been
interested heretofore in Lafayette street
predict that the new structures will be
from twelve to sixteen stories high. This
statement is somewhat substantiated by
the announcement that H. C. Hallenbeck,
president of the Wynkoop-Hallenbeck-
Crawford Co., who recently purchased the
southwest eorner of Lafayette and White
streets, running through on an "L" to
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