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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 30, no. 749: July 22, 1882

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Real Estate AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXX. NEW TOEK, SATXJEDAY, JULY 22. 1882. .^' -. 749 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance ..... $6.00 Communications should be addressed to €. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager. If the Wall street operators, a majority of whom are no^v mailing large profits, desu-e to find a first-class investment for their sur¬ plus funds, they could not do better than make tlieir wives a present iu the shape of one of the many elegant residences now being offered near our beautiful Ceu tral Park. A number of these dwellings can now be pur¬ chased at a figure for which they could not be duplicated, and, beyond a doubt, they will command higher figures next fall. i After all, when the shrewdest and largest stock speculators w.aut to make a permanent investment they always turn to real estate. But recently we reported tho sale of tlie Windermere apartment house, to James R. Keene, for |350,000, at which figure, by t he way, it was not a great bargain, the sel lor having purchased it but a short tiijie previous, and, it is said, turned neaijly $50,000 in the transaction. ; Mr. Mackay, the " Bonanza King," is also about to appear in the market as a bu^'dr. --------------------------------------------------*-'-*■---------------------------------------------- SURFACE TRANSIT ON THE WEST SIDE. A petition is being circulated and exten¬ sively signed among property owners west of Central Park and north of Sixty-fourth street, praying the Ninth Avenue Raih-oad Company to extend its road to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. The proposed route of this road is from Ninth avenue and Six¬ ty-fourth street up the Boulevard to the in¬ tersection of Tenth avenue at Seventy-second street, thence up the Tenth avenue to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. The Ninth Avenue Company have always claimed the right to extend theii^ road under a resolution passed by the Common Council on December 28th, 1853, by which they say they were empowered to lay tracks and run cars along the old Bloomingdaie road and Tenth avenue to the Harlem River. A few weeks since they made application to the Commissioner of Publio Works for permis¬ sion to commence the laying of the neces¬ sary tracks and the rembvalof so much of the paving on the Boulevard and Tenth avenue as would be necessary thereto. This application was referred by the Commis¬ sioner to the Corporation Counsel for in¬ structions. Below Avill be found an abstract of the latter's reply to this communication: " The question is_ wl\elher the Ninth Avenue Railroad still ha^ the right under the fran¬ chises granted by resolution of the Common Council December 28th, 1858, and confirmed by chap. 411, laws of 1860, or other authority of law, to extend their tracks as stated in the application. The resolution of Common Council, adopted in 1853, authorized the construction of a railroad through Ninth avenue and various other streets from Fifty- first stieet to the Battery, and also contained the following: 'And, also, provided that said railroad shall be continued from Fifty- first street along Ninth avenue to the Bloom¬ ingdaie road, thence along Bloomingdaie road to Tenth avenue, thence along Tenth avenue to the Harlem River, whenever re¬ quired by Common Council and as soon and as fast as said avenues are graded.' The whole of this resolution was originally in¬ valid, but Avas legalized by chap 411, laws of 1860. It appears to me that the effect of this clause was not to give the grantees named in the resolution, or their assigns, an absolute right to extend their road above Fifty-first sti-eet, but to give the Common Council the right to require them to do so. That the Common Council ever did so require, there is no evidencq." Under these circumstances, the Com¬ missioner of Public Works had no alternative, but to refuse to give the Ninth Avenue Company the required permission to extend their tracks, at which they aire from all accounts very indignant, as they had already provided themselves with the necessary rolling stock as well as the rails with which to commence immediately the laying of the tracks, it being confidently expected that the cars would be runniijg not later than September 1st. It is ndw reported that a mandamus will be applied for to compel the Commissioner of Public Works to grant the application. .' That such a surface railroad would be pf much benefit to all owners of realty on the West Side tbere can be no doubt, and't'hfit it would contribute largely to the building up of the streets through which it would run, as well as those adjacent thereto, is beyond question. But^facts are stub¬ born things, and it cannot be denied that if the railroad company goes to law with the Commissioner of Pablic Works the chances will be in favor of the latter. In addition to the reason already given by the Corporation Counsel why the company have not the right to build the road proposed, it should be remembered that under the char¬ ter they claim they were granted the use of the old Bloomingdaie road; now as the latter has been closed up, and some portions of it become private propei-ty, it is, to say the least, exceedingly doubtful if their right did not expire with the closing up of the said road. That every property-owner on the West Side should sign the petition to which we have alluded heretofore and give the Ninth Avenue Railroad Company the benefit of their support in the endeavor to establish a surface road on the Boulevard, is eminently proper, but that there is an immediate prospect of such a road being built, how¬ ever desirable it may be, wlien all the facts are taken into consideration, not forgetting Governor Cornell's veto of the general rail- k road law, we do not believe. The House of Representatives have passed the Senate bill as ameurtod, providing for the sale of the old jjost office building on Nassau street at a minimum price of stJUO,i)0(}. it is ciiutc pi-obaV)lo that the Senate will eoucur iii this action, and that the bill v/ill bo signed by PresWent Arthur, as we learn on undoubted authority that Secre¬ tary Folger is strongly in favor of such legisla¬ tion. Active building operations continue in the district north of One Hundred aud Twentieth street, west of Fifth avenue, aud iv^ the records of the Department of Buildings sliow, many plans for the erection of new buihUug.s in this locality are benig constantly x)laced upon record. Most of these structures v.-iil bo either what.are termed flat houses, or thi-ee-;toiy private .resi¬ dences, with an oectasional large apartment house. Mr. James Fettreti'h is about to build two of the largest houses of this character yet erected in Harlem. They Avill be seven' stories high, and will be built on "Oue Himdred and Twenty-eighth street, between Fifth aud Sixth avenues. --------------------< • ►-------------------• Owners of propei-ty iii the Seventeenth Ward will doubtless take pleasure in reading in our "Out Among the Builders," that Messrs. R. G-. Mitchell & Co. do not propose to rebuild their candle factory on the corner of First avenue and Fourth street, but have selected a site in the Seventh Ward. A large delegation oH resith?iits and property owners iu the Seventeentli AV^ard, headed by Alderman Ferdiiiaud Levy, recently appeared before the Health Gommissiouers and protested against the factory being rebuilt, ou the ground that the niauutacture of ca)idle.s in such a densely populated locality was dctrimcutal to the public health. The active movement in realty does not confine itself to New York alone, but seems to be spread¬ ing, and there are many indications that iu the autumn there will be a very general advaiice in real estate all over the United States. In Chicago not only has there been an advance in prices, but the erection of many extensive i^rivate residences, as well as large office buildings, .have alreadj^ been commenced oi- projected, as the fol¬ lowing list of the most important will show: Mr. Shepard Brooks, of Modford, Mass., has purchased the southeast corner of Deaboru and Monroe streets, 190x131..5, from the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., for *o:0,000, and which he proposes to improve in the spring by the erection of a building without its equal in Chicago. Marshall Field will build a ten-story ofiice building at the southwest corner of LaSallc aud Monroe streets. It wlU rival tho Montauli build¬ ing on the same street. Charles Counselmau will build a ten-story cas¬ tle for board of trade ofrices on his leased ground at the northwest corner of Jackson aud LaSalle streets. And, by-tlie-bye, he pays $5,000 a year lease for land that was bought for .$:;0,000 a com¬ paratively few months ago. The Norton Bros, will build a block of stores and fiats, 330x200 feet, five stories high, at the southwest, corner of Thirtj^-lirst street aud Cot¬ tage G-rove avenue. A company, to be known as the Manhattan Building Company, has been incorporated with a capital of .§1,500,000. The incorporators are Geo. E. Biddle, Steele Mackay, F. M. Pirsson, H. G. Maekay and A. C, Wheeler. The object of the