A   STREET  OF   EXCEPTIONAL   VALUES.





Thiity-fourth Street Has Outdone All Other Crosstown Thoroughfares in
Reputation and   Value—Price   and   Rental Records Frequently Broken.





THE recent opening of the Vanderbilt
Hotel at Park avenue and o4th
street, representing the latest achievement
of the structural engineer, brings forcibly
to mind the remarkable changes which
the lapse of a decade has wrought in 34th
street. The street ten years ago was the
seat of many flne residences; the avenue
corners alone were used for business pur¬
poses and few geal estate men would have
been bold enough to predict that a short
lapse of time would bring to 34th street
the best retail shops of the city or that
values on certain blocks would exceed
those on any crosstown thoroughfare in
the metropolis. The mercantile develop¬
ment of Fifth avenue has extended over a
long period of years; 14th and 2.3d streets
were long in obtaining a nation-wide com¬
mercial repute, tiut 34th street in a few
years has doubled and trebled many of
its values, and to-day has acQuired a
reputation as a retail shopping thorough¬
fare equalled by none, save only Fifth
avenue.

Trade expansion in this city has been
ever in a northerly direction and the high¬
est class of business development has
taken place in the center of the island, on
or adjacent to Broadway and Fifth ave¬
nue. The retail center,, always seeking
the most convenient location, bas moved
successively from Grand, 14th and 23d
streets in the last half century uritil to¬
day the best of the business is located on
S4th street and on Fifth avenue. The
question is often asked "Where will this
northward movement end?" and there are
many who think that 34th street will have
its period of prosperity and pass like the
other cross streets to a greater or less
degree of oblivion. The student of con¬
ditions surrounding retail trade must
realize, however, that this street has ad¬
vantages never possessed by 14th or 23d
streets, and that these advantages are
rather permanent in their nature.

Good transportation is a determining
factor in all business, but more especially
is it essential to a retail center, and 34th
street has that which 14th and 23d streets
lacked. The latter thoroughfares pos¬
sess a fair amount of facilities for travel,
but excepting the ferries to New Jersey
and Brooklyn, the transportation lines
are purely local. The ferries being re¬
mote from the center of the island are
useful only to a limited extent and can¬
not be depended upon for any enormous
volume of travel. On the other hand,
34th street has the same local lines as the
others and in addition practically posses¬
ses the eastern tei-minal of one of the
largest railroad systems of the country,
while a second terminal of even greater
magnitude is located but eight blocks dis¬
tant. Millions of dollars are invested in
these terminals, the companies own not
only the ground on which they stand but
adjacent land, and they have both been
planned and constructed with a view to
permanency. Year by year the .travel on
each roaft is increasing; more and more
people are coming from far away to pur¬
chase in New York and the greater part
of these buyers travel either by the Penn¬
sylvania or New York Central, and event¬
ually find their way to 34th street. It is
true that the majority of the most ex¬
clusive shops have moved above 42d
street either on or close to Fifth avenue,
but the limit of their northwarji move¬
ment will imdoubtedly be 59th street, for
geographical reasons if none other, and
the area which they are absorbing is
within easy reaching distance of both ter¬
minals. The class of business now lo¬
cated on 34th street, particularly between
Broadway and Park avenue, is in the main
very substantial and in all probability
any further business development will be
along the same line. Ultra-fashionable
shops, which cater only to a small but
select trade, will hardly locate here, but
the high class stores seeking a large vol¬
ume of business and carrying first grade
goods at popular prices will probably con¬





tinue to occupy this street for many gen¬
erations to come.

Broadway and Fifth avenue have both
had a material effect on developing 34th
street and it has now become the most
used line of travel between the two ave¬
nues. An illustration of the effect of
these two thoroughfares may 'be drawn
from the fact that the first really strong
impulse to 34th street property was fur¬
nished by the location of Macy's store on
one of the Broadway corners and Alt-
man's at a Fifth avenue corner. Macy's
moved uptown about ten years ago and
shortly before the fact that the Pennsyl¬
vania was buying property in the neigh¬
borhood had leaked out. Altman follow¬
ed within a few years and thereafter trad¬
ing, especially between Broadway and
Fifth avenue, became active and has con¬
tinued so to the present time.

This block is, of course, by far the most
valuable on the street and furnishes one
striking peculiarity not to be found else¬
where on any crosstown street except 42d
street. For years merchants of the better
class have sought the south side of cross
streets and the west side of avenues and
values have always been greater on the
shady sides. On 34th street the north side
has been the one most desired and expert
appraisers consider the south side worth
only about 60 per cent,  of the north.

The presence of the Waldorf Astoria,
occupying considerably more than one-
third of the entire block, is primarily re¬
sponsible for this. This immense hotel
with its marquees and carriage and bag¬
gage entrances, together with Astor Court,
a small street used only for cabs and
hotel deliveries, has always had a strong
tendency to discourage travel on this side
of the street except for those going to or
from the hotel. On this account the first
merchants to locate on 34th street chose
the north side and the others, with a few
exceptions, have been obliged to follow.

The relative value of the two sides has
been the source of considerable discus¬
sion between land owners, expert apprais¬
ers and tax officials, and some very in¬
teresting testimony has been made pub¬
lic at various times. Those most com¬
petent to judge, place a value of about
|2o0,00O a lot on property on the south
side, notwithstanding the fact that one
or two leases have been made which
would indicate a much higher value.
These exceptions have been governed by
other than purely market conditions and
should, therefore, not be taken as typical.
The value of a lot on the north side ap¬
pears to be about $400,000 near Fifth
avenue, although in one case !f 415,000
was paid for a full lot near the mid.dle of
the block by an adjoining owner wishing
to fill out his  plot.

A comparison of these figures with the
selling pi-icGS prevailing a few years ago
will nicely illustrate how property on this
street has increased in value. In 1901
Nos. 5 and 7 "West were bought for
.?315.0d0. The same land to-day would
bring nearly $1,000,000. In 18S7 Henry
Clews acquired No. 9 for $250,000; in
1905 it brought $750,000, and has au-
vanced considerably since. No. 41 brought
$155,000 nine years ago; the adjoining
similar lot at No. 3!^ is the one that re¬
cently sold for .?41o.000. Almost the en¬
tire north side of the street has changed
ownership within the last ten years and
many other cases showing equal gains
could be cited.

In 1904 an operator. J. G. Goldsmith,
leased the six-story ^luilding at 22 to 26
West 34th street from the John Jacob
Astor estate at a rental averaging about
$38,000 net per annum. As a specula¬
tive proposition the lease was ridiculed
by most real estate men familiar with
the then existing situation. Mr, Gold¬
smith bad faith enough, however, to be
content to wait until the values he an¬
ticipated should arrive. In the first
three or four years he lost a small for¬
tune  on  the  lease.    Then  tenants   begai)





to arrive and the ground floor of the
building produced nearly enough to pay
the entire rental. Last year, John For¬
sythe selected this building as the one
best adapted for an uptown location for
his business and subleased the entire
structure, paying Mr. Goldsmith a profit
of over $20,000 a  year.

East of Fifth avenue the increase in
values has not been quite so pronounced
of late, but the rise has been steady and
improvements have been gradually made.
Practically the entire block between
Fifth and Madison avenues is in the
hands of two people, Benjamin Altman
owning all of the north side and William
Waldorf Astor all of the south side ex¬
cept the Fifth avenue corner. Not a sin¬
gle parcel is for sale at any price, but a
fair estimate of value for a lot would
probably be about $200,000. Mr. Astor
has leased several parcels on long terms
and improvements have been made. The
balance is ready for improvement and
will be leased, no doubt, when the proper
tenant appears. When Altman pur¬
chased his site he was obliged to pay very
high prices for several 34th street parcels
which established more or less fictitious
values for the block at that time. This
accounts in large measure for the fact
that price advances in this block have not
been so pronounced in the last few years.

The block to the east of Madison ave¬
nue is now beginning to feel a strong up-
wai'd movement. The Cameron building
at the northeast corner of Madison ave¬
nue is well filled with good paying ten¬
ants and is one of the best examples of
modern mercantile construction in the,
uptown district. Other business houses
are moving into the block and in a few
years both sides of the street are likely
to be pretty solidly occupied for business.
The Vanderbilt Hotel should prove a
drawing card and if the proposed re¬
grading of Park avenue at 34th street is
carried out this portion of the street will
be materially benefited. Property on the
south side of the block is worth' about
$150,000 a lot, while the north side would
bring a trifle less.

From Park avenue to the East River,
property is decidedly inactive, except
near Lexington avenue, which portion is
beginning to feel the effect of the sub¬
way now under construction. The east- '
ern end of the street may in time be some¬
what improved with factory buildings,
but at present there are few indications
of any early activity. The block near
the Long Island ferry "was formerly quite
prosperous, but to-day the ferry travel
is very limited and retail stores there
have ceased to be profltable.

Before the completion of the Pennsyl¬
vania terminal great things were ex¬
pected from the two blocks between ,
Broadway and Eighth avenue and specu¬
lation there was rife for several years.
The amount of business brought to these
blocks by the railroad has been extremely
disapl^ointing in volume and but few
good stores have located there. Prices
were discounted for many years in ad¬
vance and at present most of the parcels
will not sell for as much as they would
have before the station opened. Lots on
the south side between Seventh avenue
and Broadway are held at $200,000, bui
it is unlikely to-day that one could be
sold for over $150,000. Between Seventh
avenue and the 34th street entran'ee to
the Long Island Railroad a similar con¬
dition exists. Before tie station opened
the owners of the parcel at No. 222 re¬
fused an offer of $60,000. A few months
ago  it sold for $45,000.

West of the Long Island entrance re¬
sults have been still more disappointing
and it is difficult to discover how the
terminal will ever be of much value to
this portion. The building of a Seventh
avenue subway may afTect the blocks im¬
mediately adjoining to some degree, but
if such a line is established, the station
is almost sure to be near the main en¬
trance   to   the   Pennsylvania   on   Seventh