Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view
About OCR text.
October 20, 1906
RECORD AND GUIDE
635
ESTABUSHED"^ tf^CH 21VA1868.
Dev&teD p KeA-L Estate . BuiLoiffc i^Rofitecture .KouseMoid Decoratidi!,
Busii/e;3s AffoThemes or GejJeh^I li/TERfsi.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
PuhUshed every Saturday
Communications should bo addressed to
C, W. S'WEET
Downtown Otfice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
Telolihono, Cortiaudl 3157
UDto'A'n Olfice: 11-13 East 24th Street
Telephono, Madison Sijuare 1688
''Entered at ihe Tost Offlce at New York. N. Y,. as seco?id-cla»i matter."
Vol, LXXVIIL
October 20, 1906.
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS,
Advertising Section,
Page Page
Cement....................xxx Law........................xi
Consulting Engineers........'.x Lumber ..................xxx
Clay Products .............xxix Machinery ...................iv
Contractors and Builders ,;___v Metal 'Work ...............xvii
Electrical Interests ..........xs Quick Job Directory .........xxix
.Fireproofing ..................ii Real Eatate ...............xiii
Granite ..................xxvi Roofers & Roofing Mater'Is,xxviii
Heating....................xxii Stone .....................xxxi
Iron and Steel.............xviil Wood Products ..............xxx
DULNESS prevailed in the Stoclt Marltet this 'weelv. In¬
deed prices, on the 'wliole, may be said to he a little lo'wer
than last â– week and flatness more pronounced. Money on call
was somewhat tighter, but rather easier on time. Railroad and
trade reports grow instead of diminishing In their account of
great activity in business and traffic, and continue their encour¬
aging monotony. There is no halt in our prosperous progress,
yet speculation could not be deader'were we in the midst of a
great depression. Wall Street finds it convenient to account
for this state of things by the political unrest r.nd consequent
situation, but it may be that time â– will develop other reasons.
In the meantime the"Hopeful Club" has a large membership
waiting to be made happy after the election in this State. As
it is, the tape moves spasmodically. It is felt that a period of
uncertainty is being tided over, and some say that the financiers
who have arranged for important combinations and other big
things which await announcement, will proclaim them at a time
when the public mind is in condition to receive them properly.
This would not appear to be the case at the moment. There
is a strong undertone in some stoclts and securities. A feature
worthy of remark was the strength of the United States Steel
Corporation's sinking fund 5 per cent, bonds, which sold at
101, a new high record. But taking the market as a whole, bank¬
ing interests and cliques appear to be giving the market little
or no support. Secretary Shaw was in Wall Street this week, but
refused to discuss the iSnancial situation, in which latter it may
be said there is nothing that should cause immediate anxiety.
All that can be done, therefore, is to await developments in
this important matter; which, other things being equal, should
be favorable to a renewal of activity in real estate and its
kindred interests.
tunities during 1907 would fall to those people who are inter¬
ested in properties between Twenty-third and Forty-second
streets, which is capable of being developed for business pur¬
poses. The demand for loft room iu tliat part of the city is
still excellent, and large as has been the number of buildings
of thaf kind erected during receut years, the supply has not
overreached the demand. It is likely that this part of the
city still affords the best opportunity for speculative activity.
There are many side streets and several avenues in the area
bounded by Twenty-third and Forty-second streets, Lexington
and Eighth avenues, which have not received the attention
which they deserve. It is this area which is to be the heart
of the New York of the future—of the New York the majority
of whose inhabitants will live in The Bronx, on Long Island,
or in New Jersey, and who will have cheap aud convenient
means of traveling to and from their homes. These people will
be able to reach this central district more conveniently than
they can reach any other part of Manhattan, and a vast amount
of the necessary machinery of business and pleasure will neces¬
sarily be concentrated in this square mile of territory. Of
course, it will be some years before the new tunnels and rapid
transit routes will begin to have their effect, and the purchaser
may have to wait for some time before he can make large
profits, but it is the man who buys now and holds on tight
who will make the money. For the present, the only indication
of the future prosperity on the streets and avenues which have
been hitherto neglected will be the steady purchases for the
sites of new loft buildings. Such purchases, however, will really
only make time. The day will soon arrive when this whole
district will be the central point of a number of transit fun¬
nels whose large ends will be situated in the outlying boroughs,
and which will confer an extraordinary monopoly on the owners
of real estate within the area described.
No. 2014
IT can hardly be declared that as the season advances the
real estate market in Manhattan becomes more interesting
or more active. On the contrary, it is most assuredly less
active and interesting than it has been for years. It has failed
entirely to develop a marked speculative tendency In any one
direction or in any one part of the city. The speculation in
tenement houses, which has been such a noticeable feature of
the market since the fall of ]903, has at length subsided. The
speculation in vacant land is confined to the outskirts of the
city, and does not affect expensive unimproved real estate in
Manhattan, A large number of new buildings are still being
erected on the West Side and in the wholesale districts; but
there is uo pronounced activity in those sections, A few weeks
ago the purchase of private dwellings on the West Side attracted
some attention, bufit soon vanished, and it never attracted much
interest on the part of speculators. The fact is that the or¬
dinary speculator is less certain about the value of the oppor¬
tunities for making money in real estate than he has been at
any time during the past five years. The tenement house
speculation has been worked out, and will leave many small
operators, who have lived on It for several years, a good deal
at a loss what to do. Throughout the coming year at least,
the erection of new tenement and apartment houses will be a
somewhat precarious business, which can be undertaken only
by people â– with abundant capital. It looka aa If the beat oppor-
The New Fifth Avenue.
THE Opening of the new dry goods store of Benjamin Altman
& Co,, at tbe corner of Pifth Aveuue and Thirty-fourth
Street, is tbe best possible indication of the transformation
which has been taking place on that thoroughfare since 1901.
The character of the Altman store and the length of time which
was required to buy the necessary land is the most typical illus¬
tration of character of the whole transformation. In 1901
Pifth Avenue had for flfteen years been changing slowly from
a thoroughfare which was given up to expensive residences to
â– one which was given up to the best class of retail trade; but up
to that time the change had not been particularly profitable to
the owners of real estate on Fifth Avenue. The new stores on
the avenue did not do very much more than hold their own, and
the price of real estate remained about where it was in 1S85,
when Fifth Avenue was still for the most part the abiding place
of wealthy people. The transformation did not have any very
active effect on the value of property until after 1901, In that
and the following years it was suddenly realized that New York
was becoming more than ever the city of the rich and that more
money than ever was to be made by catering to the needs of the
wealthy people who spent part of their time in the ctty. A
sudden demand for locations on Fifth Avenue set in. The prices
of property and the rental value of shops began to rise rapidly,
and one important retail firm after anotber, which had formerly
been located south of Twenty-third Street, secured sites on the
avenue. This process has continued ever since, until at the
present time we believe that for the mile and over between
Twenty-sixth and Porty-eighth streets, which includes the part
of the avenue devoted to the retail trade, a higher level of real
estate values prevails thau it does over any similarly long
stretch of street frontage in the world.
No single man in New York City anticipated the meaning of
this transformation and did more to accelerate it than Benjamin
Altman. Acting under the best advice he could get as to real
estate values, he began his purchases a nnmber of years ago
with the corner of Thirty-third Street and Pifth Avenue and
several adjoining houses. At first he proceeded very slowly,
perhaps too slowly; but towards the end he bought hard and
fast, and the vigor of his purchases advanced the value of
property on the block he wanted to such a high level that many
people began to wonder whether it could pay him to purchase
his land at such a heavy cost. But Mr. Altman knew what lie
was about, and large as were the prices he paid, they were
smaller than the existing level of real estate values on the beat
parts of Fifth Avenue and of Thirty-fourth Street. The con¬
sequence is that Mr. Altman not only piled together a piece of
property which is worth more than he paid for it, but he ob¬
tained absolutely the best site in the city for his new store, and
one which cannot possibly be duplicated by any of his competi¬
tors. -Tlie-value of real estate on FiftH Avenue at the present