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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, MARCH 6, 1915
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WHERE THE NEXT LAND BOOM WILL START
The Fourth Avenue and Sea Beach Divisions of the Dual Subway System
to be in Operation July First—A Big Building Movement to Follow
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â– "PIIE cily is on tho edge of another
* speculative movement in real estate,
one which will have a definite point of
origin and will receive fresh acceleration
from time to time from other quarters
during- a period of years.
The movement will follow from the
opening of a new subway traffic system,
just as the previous movement resulted
from the operation of the first subway
lines. Within a few months, probably
some time during the month of July,
trains will be running from City Hall
to Coney Island through the Fourth
avenue tube and over the new Sea Beach
division.
For a number of years the real estate
market has been waiting for a fresh im¬
pulse. Here is one coming. The pre¬
diction is made on the basis of a mar¬
ket's past experience. Every forward
leap it has taken in the last half century
has resulted from
the opening up of
fresh territory to de-
delopment b y n e w
lines of transit. The
original subway
lines srave us a new
East Bronx, a new
Morningside Heights
and a new Wash¬
ington Heights. The
first results from
the new Dual Sys¬
tem vsill be a new
Bav Ridge and a
greatly improved
Fourth avenue s e c -
tion in Brooklyn.
The Sea Beach di¬
vision is ninety-nine
per cent, completed.
A splendid f o u r -
track high - speed
electric railroad, de¬
pressed below the
surface on a stone-
balasted roadbed be¬
tween retaining walls
of concrete masonry,
I t intercepts both
the Fourth avenue subway and the Fifth
avenue elevated, and is being built by
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company,
Station platforms are at Eighth avenue,
Fort Hamilton avenue, New Utrecht
avenue, Eighteenth avenue, Twentieth
avenue, Twenty-second avenue, Kings
Highway, Avenue U and 86th street.
Last week tlie Public Service Commis¬
sion approved of the proposed award of
the construction of nine station buildings
to Post & McCord (Inc.) for $331,163,
The Fourth avenue division has been
seven years under construction, and
from Manhattan Bridge to 43d street, it
is 100 per cent, completed. The exten¬
sion from 43d street to 61st street, which
has been under construction since
October, 1912, is officially 84 per cent,
completed.
At the^ office of the Public Service
Commission this week it was said that
the expectation is that trains from the
Sea Beach division will be running
through the Fourth avenue - tunnel to
Manhattan Bridge and City Hall on or
about July 1. This is the first time that
the officials have been willing to set a
date for this event. As soon as Spring
opens the first signs of the big specula¬
tion should be discerned—auction sales
of lots and purchases of larp-e blocks of
lots by builders.
Owing to atrocious traffic accommoda¬
tions in the section to be served by the
Sea Beach division, there has been, in
anticipation of the opening of the road,
less immigration than there otherwise
would have been, and not a few tenants
have left the district. Tracts along the
line are still being farmed, and for all
practical purposes it is still in part an
undeveloped territory from the point of
view of the city builder.
"A year ago there was scarcely a
high-class real estate broker in Manhat¬
tan who could be induced to even give
consideration to any part of Brooklyn as
SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION—THE "BOARD WALK" IN TIMES SQUARE
a field for operations." says William E. case comes from
Harmon. "Within the past month, not
less than three or four have asked us for
advice concerning the Sea Beach line,
values, etc., and now, to my mind, all
these things point to one clear conclu¬
sion, and that is either before, or imme¬
diately following the opening of the Sea
Beach subway, all the cheap land along
this subway will be picked, and picked
up by men who understand how to cre-
ate^ a big public interest in things in
which they have secured a prior inter¬
est.
"The^ significance of this little center
of activity to the whole Borough of
Brooklyn is very clear, when we appre¬
ciate that, step by step, new lines of
transportation will be completed. Each
to be accompanied by a like upward
movement, and renewed real estate ac¬
tivity. Like a snow ball, this will gain
size, so that at the time of the comple¬
tion of the subway programme, the
whole Borough of Brooklyn (except
probably that section lying north of At¬
lantic avenue and west of Clinton ave¬
nue), will enjoy a period of real estate
prosperity such as we have never be¬
fore witnessed,"
Local brokers and operators say that
the Sea Beach section would have been
in a more advanced state but for the
poor transit facilities. With high-speed
express trains running from Kings
Highway to City Hall in twenty-five
minutes, there is bound to be a great
accession of population as soon as
homes are provided. Disappointment
over the long delay in furnishing the
Fourth avenue line has also had a dis¬
couraging effect on builders.
The new development will consist
mainly of private dwellings at first, it is
said, but with stores and tenements
near the stations. Lots for improvement
with dwellings are quoted at $1,200 on
the average at present, which is a price
that offers a very
fair opportunity for
homeseekers.
The participation
of the Fourth ave-
n u e section in the
e X p e c t ed building
movement will be
of a different nature.
The section is f o r
the most part i m -
proved, and during
a 11 the years since
the construction o f
the u n d e r g r ound
road was legally
authorized, the bene¬
fits to be derived
have been to some
deg rce anticipated.
It will be a varied
development, with
larger units than
the Sea Beach op-
e r a t o r s will deal
with, and it will
be a slower move¬
ment.
The most uncer¬
tain element in the
the fact that there
will be other rapid transit lines opened
later on and that other new sections
of the city will then share in the de¬
velopment. For that reason no one
should expect to see repeated in the
Bay Ridge, Sea Beach and Fourth ave¬
nue sections of Brooklyn the same
amount of speculation and as rapid con¬
struction as followed the opening of
the first Manhattan and Bronx subway
divisions.
While it will be, at the start, a more
moderate movement, it will be one
which will be lasting, and as new rapid
transit lines are opened next year in
Queens' and the year after in Manhattan
and the Bronx and other parts of
Brooklyn it will spread all over the
city in time. The Sea Beach movement
will therefore simply be the beginning
of srreater things.
The alien labor troubles were suddenly
terminated this week by the injunction
granted by the U. S. Supreme Court,