Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 27, no. 684: April 23, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXYII. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APEIL 23, 1881 No. 684 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE TEAR, in advance - - - . Commimications should be addressed to $6.00 C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Busmess Manager. Allusion was made last week to a depart- raent we have been xmnning for some six weeks, entitled " Out Among the Builders," Certain of our subscribers, thinking a new paper of that name had been published, sent word to us to send it to them. The Rec¬ ord contains every possible item of real es¬ tate news. We employ a large corps of re¬ porters and nothing of any value can escape their vigilance. This week will be found the news, not only of this citv and Brook¬ lyn, but important ixiformation gleaned in the annexed district, as well as in Yonkers, If there is any part of the real estate or in¬ vesting field uncovered, we are willing to go to any expense to furnish every piece of information that the most exacting could require. Suggestions from our subscribers are in order. That our citizens should desire clean streets is very natural. But are not the advocates of a change overdoing it, in giving currency to absurd reports about the health of New York? An utterly preposterous statement was made in the papers that Asiatic cholera had made its appearance, four well marked cases ha'ving occurred. This was telegraphed all over the country, to the injury of the trade of this port. The daily papers un¬ doubtedly represent our best citizens, in de¬ siring some law passed that will make the Mayor responsible for clean streets; but when they fill their columns with stories of the ravages made by typhus, diphtheria, cholera, and kindred diseases, they are " fouling their own nests," injuring their repute as sensible organs of public opinion, and discrediting the object they have in view. The business men of the city should take some means of letting the newspapers know that in their efforts for some system that will keep the city perfectly clean, they should not injure the good reputation of the metropolis. The inamigration is simply phenomenal. On one day alone, during the past week, seven thousand persons landed at this port. Every vessel coming this way is filled to overflow¬ ing with steerage passengers. The engage¬ ments extend far into the harvest season, at which time usually there is a falling ofl in emigration. Counting accessions from Canada and on the Pacific Coast, it is not improbable that over 600,000 souls, from emigration alone, will be added to our popu¬ lation during the coming year. Crops or no crops, these tides of human beings will give our raUroads all that they can do. This emigration means the rapid settlement of Minnesota, Dakota, Kansas and Northern Texas. The bears get the worst of it in the long run in this country. A nation which grows as rapidly as does om-s, from natural causes as well as from emigration, constantly improves in its business and in the valuation of its real estate. The out-going steamers are very full of cabin passengers. More well-to-do Ameri¬ cans will visit Europe this year than ever before. There are no vacant berths. There wiU be a sharp demand for houses next fall when these travellers return. OFFICES TO LET. The above sign is at present ominously frequent all over the lower part of the city. In Broadway from the City Hall to the Battery such signs appear on every block ; indeed, on some blocks the building that has not such a sign is an exception to the rule. There are also many offices to rent in Wall, Broad and Nassau streets and Exchange place, as well as the adjacent streets. It is now very evident that the " boom " in office rents during January and February was not justified by the demand. People near the exchanges became panic stricken lest they might not find eligible quarters, and made haste to secure their present offices at rents which, had they waited until the present time, would have procured them much better accommodations. The rage for erecting immense buildings in the lower part of the city, if continued, will have consequences that the projectors of them do not now foresee. It does not require much mathematical knowledge to be able to predict after al! these great buildings are finished, a possible plethora of offices. Within a certain area immediately surround¬ ing the Stock Exchange this office business cannot be overdone. The same is doubtless true of the Produce, Cotton and Mining ex¬ changes. But it should be remembered that buildings seven, eight and nine stories high, and covering thousands of square feet, can contain a very large number of offices. A glance at New street, at Broad street in the immediate neighborhood of the Stock Ex¬ change, shows numbers of buildings that will sorae time be altered or rebuilt to accom¬ modate brokers. Now, there are probably not over six hundred stock brokers who can be called active, who really have daily busi¬ ness on the Stock Exchange. Add to these the members of the Iilining Board, of whom not more than one hundred and flfty are active dealers, and we have something less than eight hundred men who must have acconamaodations io the immediate neighbor¬ hood of the exchanges. There are subsidiary businesses that depend upon Stock Exchange members to be also accommodated, such as telegraphing, the restaurant and saloon busi¬ ness, and the like. In the course of a couple of years, D. O. Mills will have completed a magnificent building at the corner of Broad street and Exchange place, full of offices to accommo¬ date members of the Stock Exchanges. The United Bank building -wiU soon be finished, nd there are other buildings by the Astors and others that, with those already in exist¬ ence, will fully supply all the demand for offices near the Stock and Mining exchanges. During periods of speculative activity, such as the time of the petroleum excite¬ ment, or the mining fever about a year ago, there are not a sufficient number of offices to supply the demand. But such times form no criterion as to the general course of things. No doubt as the city grows in com¬ mercial importance there will be an increas¬ ing demand for accommodation by large com¬ mission houses and out-of-town firms and companies that want to be represented in the metropolis. But there is a present danger that more offices will be supplied than the demand in the immediate future will war¬ rant. We would not be understood to say that offices in very choice locations are not in demand to-day. They are, and at very high figures. The taste at present runs to the newest and costliest buildings, and it is the upper stories that are the first rented. The demand for good offices " grows with what it feeds upon," and the otvners of the older buildings are forced by the competition of their newer rivals to refit them with eleva¬ tors and all the modem conveniences. Such buildings as the United Bank Building, the Boreel Building, and those in their imme¬ diate neighborhood on Broadway, and also the Drexel Building and 16 and 18 Wall street, can be readily disposed of at high rents, and it is this demand for fine offices that calls for such erections as the Mills Building. But capitalists would do well to figure closely before giving orders for nine- story buildings. IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED. West Side property holders say, that the work of local improvements in that quarter of the city, is not pushed with sufficient energy. Complaint is made that Manhat¬ tan Square is neglected, to the detriment of the lot owners in the immediate vicinity. This is under the control of the Central Park Commissioners, and there has been a good deal of debate in the Board as to whv im¬ provements were not effected. Property in the immediate vicinity, would advance ma¬ terially in value, were Manhattan Square to be put iu proper shape. The work on Morningside Park is also unnecessarily de¬ layed. The property holders in the imme¬ diate neighborhood have paid their assess¬ ments long since; the money is in the Treasury, the State Legislature has ordered the work done and yet, owing to the troubles in the Central Park Board, nothing has beeu done, to the detriment of property in the neighborhood. The coming fall should see the work on Manhattan Squarp, Morningside Park and Mount Morris, well under way. The street improvements on the West Side shoula also be pushed forward with energy. There are considerations of hralth which should be regarded. There is always dan¬ ger of fever and ague when streets are being opened and sewers built. One of the rea-