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August I, 1908
RECORD AND GUIDE
221
EST^^USHED-^ tt^BpHSV^S 1868.
Dev6-[iD to Reji^lEstate.Bihldij/g ^R.cifiTEeTURE,KousE«oLDDEQCB^TBtl.
Bi/sii/ess Af/n Themes ofGei^r.aI lr/TEi\Esi.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications should he addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Pablis/jed EVery Saturday
By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE
Vice-Pres. & Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER
Nos. 11 to 15 East 24th Street, ft'ew York City
(Telephone. Madison Square. 4430 to 4433.)
"Entered at the
Post Office at New
York
N. y..
ns
srconil-cJass
matter."
Copyrighted.
190S, by
The
Record
&
Guide Co.
Vol.
LXXXIL
AUGUST 1,
aoos.'
No.
2107
IF the Allied Real Estate Interests, under the leadership
of Mr. Robinson succeeds in constituting an efficient
organization of the various local taxpayers' associations, it
will have accomplished a very useful and a very difficult
last. Nothing Is more needed than an association of New
York property-owners whose membei-ship and resources are
considerable, to represent every section of the city, and
which will be in a position to exercise an eifective influence
both at tht. City Hall and in Albany. Many attempts have
been made to form such an association, but since the de¬
cease of the old Real Estate Exchange they have all failed.
Dui-ing the interval the Allied Real Estate Interests have been
much the most influential and useful organization of prop¬
erty-owners, but it needs a larger following and more abund¬
ant resources. It remains to be seen whether the able
management characteristic of the association hitheito will
succeed in a task which has so frequently failed of achieve¬
ment. Tbe great impediment to an effective organization
has usually been the nature aud objects of the local asso¬
ciations. They have been organized, as a rule, exclusively
for the purpose of promoting local interests, and their mem¬
bers have refused to occupy themselves with the general
interests which they share with other property-owners as
taxpayers. Perhaps, however, the danger of a severe in¬
crease of their burdens, which is now hanging over the
property-owners of the city may induce them to unite upon
some common policy and to form an effective association
in order to carry it out. It is certainly very much to be
hoped that such will be the case.
'T*HE people of New York are to be congratulated upon
â– â– â– the prospect that Mr. Hughes will remain their Gov¬
ernor for another two years. His announcement that, de¬
spite the necessary sacrifice of his personal interests, he is
willing to accept another term, has been received with such
general approval that he can scarcely fail to be both nom¬
inated and elected. Bitterly as the Republican machine is
opposed to Mr. Hughes, it will scarcely dare to fight his
selection to a finish, particularly at a time when any local
quarrels might compromise the success of the national ticket;
and the regular Republican organization will be placed in
the unpleasant position of aiding the election of its bitter¬
est enemy. The reason why Mr. Hughes' continued pres¬
ence in the Executive Mansion at Albany is so necessary
hangs chiefly on the fact that the power of the old machine
has not been broken. It has been severely injured by Mr.
Hughes' measures of reform, but a complaisant Governor
could undo a large part of what Mr. Hughes has accom¬
plished. At the end of another two years, Mr. Hughes will
not only have consolidated the work he has already accom¬
plished, but he will have still further undermined the power
of the machine at Albany. Such a result, when accom¬
plished, will be of particular benefit to New York City, be¬
cause New York has suffered peculiarly from the former
methods of the Republican machine. The Legislature has
always refused the City any effective control over its own
affairs. It has interfered constantly in matters of exclus¬
ively local importance, and it will not surrender the right
to such interference, unless it is forced to do so. Now the
revised charter, which will be submitted to the Legislature
at its next session grants to the city a wholly unprecedented
amount of home rule, and it would not, under ordinary con¬
ditions have the ghost of a chance with the Legislature. Mr.
Hughes is the only man who could by any possibility induce
the Legislature to pass the proposed chai-ter without greiv-
ous mutilation. Of course, even his infiuence may not be
suthcient, but if he shou'ld be re-elected by a very large
majority, he can hardly fail to have his way in all essential
matters, and he has from the start attached great importance
to the revision of tbe local charter. He insisted' on the
appointment of the present commission, and there is every
reason to believe that he will use his infiuence most ener¬
getically in favor of the instrument which the commission
is preparing.
^^OME time ago the Record and Guide in discussing the
^--^ probable nature of any revival of real estate specula¬
tive activity ventured to predict that the locality in which
such a revival could be expected was the so-called Pennsyl¬
vania district. No doubt prices throughout that district are
already being maintained on a level above that which is
warranted by its existing earning power, but it remains none
the less true that there is room for a still further advance,
particularly on the margin of the district. This neighbor¬
hood is the only part of Manhattan that will be very much
benefited by the transit changes of the next few years, and
the Record and Guide gave certain salient reasons for be¬
lieving that the effect of these changes has been under rather
than over-estimated. We are glad to notice that the real
estate department of the "Sun," which is one of the most
intelligently conducted in New York City, lends the weight
of its authority to the same prediction. It infers from re¬
cent reports that vigorous speculative buying is already
developing in two distinct neighborhoods^—the mid-town
mercantile section, and the apartment house district on the
upper West Side, including especially Morningside and
Washington Heights. Activity in these neighborhoods is
reaching important dimensions, and is justified by existing
conditions. Elevator apartment houses are one of the few
classes of improvement which were not over-produced during
1905-6-7, and there is room for more buildings of this kind.
The renewed.activity in the mid-town mercantile section is
also, in tbe opinion of the "Sun," suggested by sound rea¬
sons. The section in question is defined as extending from
Twenty-third to Forty-second Streets, and from Fourth to
Eighth Avenues, Until recently, the majority of the new
buildings erected in this vicinity were situated on the thor¬
oughfares running north and south—particularly Broadway
and Fifth Avenue. At present, however, most of the activity
is taking place in the side streets, the theory being that the
heavy cross-town travel, expected from the opening of the
Pennsylvania, McAdoo and Belmont tunnels, will arrest the
traditional migrations of trade toward the north and mal<e
it expand to the east and the west. While the bulk of the
travel will no doubt continue to follow the longer dimension
of Manhattan Island, a scarcely less considerable volume
of traffic will flow towards Long Island on the east and New
Jersey on the west. This traffic wil! exercise a profound
and a novel infiuence on real estate values. As it will be
inconvenient for people living in New Jersey and Long Island
to reach locations north of Forty-second Street,' proprietors
of retail stores, hotels, restaurants and theatres will find
advantageous situations near the line of this cross-town
trafiic. But in that event there will be exercised upon the
real estate in this district an unusual pressure. The needs
of the large amount of business to be transacted in this
neighborhood will necessitate the purchase of locations off
what has hitherto been the main line of traffic. Fifth and
Sixtb avenue and Broadway will not be the only thorough¬
fares adapted to expensive improvements. Fourth and Sev¬
enth avenues and the side streets leading from them will
be available for large shops, hotels and Ioft buildings. The
business of this part of Manhattan instead of being concen¬
trated along the ridge of the island will radiate from a
centre formed roughly by the intersections of Broadway and
Thirty-fourth Street.
'T»HE Record and Guide believes that it wil] repay real
A estate brokers and operators to attend carefully to
the line of argument contained in the foregoing paragraph.
There can be little doubt that during the coming year specu¬
lative activity will be confined to the district and kinds of
improvement named by the "Sun." Many new tenements
will not be built so long as the number of emigrants almost
precisely balances the number of immigrants, and activity
in the financial district will be confined to the erection of a
few skyscrapers by existing owners. But there will be room
for considerable building of fireproof apartment houses; and