Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 1, no. 9: May 16, 1868

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AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. I.] SATURDAY, MAY 1«, 18G8. [No. 9. Published Weekly by C.'W. .'sweet-;&.CO., Roo.v 25 AVoiiLD Bi;ii,niN-o,'No..37 Pauk Row. ; " TERMS^ ".'■' '.' Six months, payable in advance......-.'........... 8 00 ■ PRICE OF ADVERTISING. 1 square, ten lines, three .months.................$10 00 1 square, single insertion.......................... 1 00 Special Notices, per line.......................... 20 Business cards, per mouth......................... 2 00 ABOUT OURSELVES. Our readers will bear Av^itness that Ave have done very little boasting so far; but Ave can noAV announce, Avithout being open to that charge, that our subscription lists by this time embrace all.the reputable Real Estate dealers and builders in Ncav York and Brooklyn. Here and there, a slow or unenteiprising firm has failed-to subscribe lor the Record, but the concerns > who do any business cannot now get al6ng;vvithdut it. •,' Our price' current and reports of building material were quite a novelty at first^ and a fcAV old fogy dealers, especially lumber mer¬ chants, objected to them. They said they did not Avant builders to know all about the markets. It made trouble. For when they had all the data, they objected to the prices asked, and demanded concessions. When ignorance is profit to the lumber dealers, they object to knoAvledge. All this, of course, is absurd; the market quotations, as all business shows, facilitate trade, and in the end are as good for sellers as buyerfs. We pay a great deal of attention to our markets. They are lull and accurate, No such markets Avere ever before published in a New York paper; and Ave are pleased to learn that our patrons appreciate our efforts. E"or is our circulation confined to Real Estate dealers and builders; the solid men of New York, the large owners of Real Estate, the people who invest their spare means in real property, find our journal indispensable to them. We have a well grounded hope that, before our first year is over, we will have a circulation of 10,000 among the best business men in this city and Brooklyn. IMPEOVEMENTS AT HELL GATE. In our market reports, which Avill be found elsewhere, we give a succinct account of the appropriations and progress since 1846 in the removal of obstructions from Hell Gate. The improvements contemplated in this locaUty are far-reaching in their character, constituting the pioneers which are opening the way to commercial results to Avhich our people seem strangely oblivious. This supineness and ap¬ parent indifference to the opening of a source of business prosperity, may be attributable to the unwillingness of merchant property-own¬ ers to give countenance to any scheme which, though not; depreciating the present value of their real estate, must prevent an increase of its inflated price—a price much above intrinsic value, and only sustained by the cramped condition of our commercial locahties. The torrent cannot be stemmed much longer; and business on the lower part of the Island must, with the complete removal of obstructions at Hell Grate, be transferred to the north-east part. AAVonderful transformation will then be effected in the waste districts along the East river J and noble docks, stately warehouses, and substantial wharves will spring up with the rapidity of a Western city on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many of the sails which now whiten the Bay wiU be trans¬ ferred to the Sound, and business have more space for its multifarious operations in bulky goods which now encumber the narroAV streets of ancient G-otham. In addition to this increase of accommodation, the lower channel is easier of access from the ocean and considerably nearer the city than the tortu¬ ous Narrows, so that the commerce of the lower bay would find its way in by the Long Island Sound. This great desideratum may not be effected by the merchants of the pres¬ ent generation, Avho, for reasons before stated, cannot be expected to show much zeal in changing business localities. The effect on prices of real estate in the upper part of the city will be enormous, and water lots, which may now be readily purchased for $700 or $800, Avill be obtained with diflSculty at as many thousands. Railroad business will re¬ ceive a wonderful impetus, and the village hamlet along the Harlem River will teem with business activity and become a pre-eminently business locality. The Harlem River and the neAV Hudson River railroads Avill, in order to meet the increase of traffic, be obliged to construct branch lines in that part of the city where the Harlem debouches into the East River. The citizens of New York have hitherto been too apathetic to these accessible advantages, and this indifference is surprising when a single ship channel of tAventy-six feet depth could be sunk for le?s than $3,000,000. As New York is the great commercial centre of the country, this ceases to be a mere local improvement, in the national interests in¬ volved, and Congress should be immediately memorialized to make all necessary appropria¬ tions; and it is to be hoped the East Side Association will bring sufficient pressure to bear so as to secure without fiiirther delay so desirable a result. We shall publish the mortgages up to date shortly, the pressure of transfers Avas so heavy about ihe first of May, that the mort¬ gages were croAvded out of last week's Record ; nor have we been able to give them all this week. Next week will see us all right. Mr. F. j. Tuomet, the Clerk of the Com¬ mon Council, who has had the preparation of the finance reports of that body, has cer¬ tainly acquitted himself with a great deal of credit. He makes one point in the finance' report of 1868 which is certainly well taken. It is this, that, of the sum total levied upon the city of New-York, over $15,000,000 per annum is for the support of officials, over whom the people of this city have no sort of control. Our city government is very wretch¬ edly managed, but Albany government of city affairs is no improvement. There will be no thorough reform until voting for financial officials and municipal' taxation is confined to property owners. . f FEBSONAL ITEMS. Among the notable sales recently recorded in our columns, are the following: Horace B. Claflin sold to J. N. Barker, the house and lot No. 340 Bowery, for $41,000 —a good price. The house and lot No. 153 Broadway, was sold to Mary E. Lydden for $50,000. The north Avest corner of Broadway and 20th street, was sold to G-. H. Warren for! $275,000. The old church, corner of Broome and EUza¬ beth, was sold to the German Lutherans foi: $115,000. Ottenderfer Oswald, of the Staaiz Zeitung, has bought the property on the corner of Chatham St. and Tryon Row for $200,000. John Hoey has bought the south west cor-. ner of 5th Av. and 22d St for $115,000. Express stocks must be lively. Ered. Koneg has purchased the property on the south west corner of Broadway and Broome Street, for $320,000. The lot is 28x 200. Wm. PhilUps has bought the property on the south east corner of Broadway and Bleecker, for $175,000. Lot 25x196. Matilda S. BartOAV is the purchaser of the property No. 16 E. 42d St. The name was erroneously printed Burton in our last issue. •