Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 43, no. 1088: January 19, 1889

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Jauuary 10. 18Sd ,ecord ani 71 ^- " ESTABLlSHED'^MAHpHaS'-^^ieee,; De/oteD to I^e\L Estate . SuildiKg A^ciIitectji^e .Household DEoa-^TioH. Bi/sii>iESs a(Jd Themes of CeHerrL 1;>(tei\est rRKE, PER VE.AR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, ■ ■ - JOHN 370. Communlcationa should be addres.sed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway, ■T. T. LINDSEY, Bu^ness Manager. VOL, XLIII. JANUARY 19, 1889. No. 1,088 The business outiook for tlie immediate future ia not altogetlier Bfttiafactory, The unseasonably mild weather has cut short the sale of winter gnoda; the supjilies of coal has been mueli greater than the demand, and tlien the iron and steel interests are depressed because oi; tiie stoppage of railway consti'uction, Real estate is always dull at this season. Nor do merchants and jobbers generally know what to do before February ojiens. Notwithstanding the favorable factors at work, it is no wonder tliat the stock market is a halting one. Operators seem puzzled what to do. The returns for the new year generally show a better state of things than for the corresponding period la.st year. Many coniorations are now at peace, and there seems to be an lionest eiTort to keep up rates. But confidence is a plant of slow growth, and conservative opera¬ tors hesitate for a variety of reasons. There is some political dis¬ gust, due to a new administration coming in ou the 4th of March; still there is time for at least a transient boom in the stock niarket while Mr. Cleveland is yet President, Money is easy; the earnings of the railroads are steadily increasing, and wheat is nearing a price at whicli it can be shipped abroad. Onr enormous corn crop is moving freely, and. as far as indications go, the bulla ought ulti¬ mately to come out ahead. Spring is approaching, a-id it may bring with it war in Europe; hut certainly matter.^ look peaceful enough at present. The only oniinoui^ sign is the increase in the armies of the Czar. Assemblyman Creamer's propositions to abrogate t!ie restrictions upon elevated roads on Broadway, ith avenue and 4Sd street, con¬ tained in the Rapid Transit Act of 187D, have naturally created a good deal of discussion ; but we may have to do something of this kind unless mean.s are speedily fouud to further utilize the Man¬ hattan road by permitting it to build extra tracks for through pas¬ sengers. Tlie controversy hati had one good effect in giving us an idea of what Mayor fJrant has in mind. He is opposed to any elevated road ou Broadway, and thinks our c'tizens will have no real relief until quailru]ile tracks are laid on solid earth. From his outgivings] and other things we hear, we judge that the Central & Hudson River Raih'uad may carry out Commodore Vanderbilfs original plans, which was to build a steam road, niniiing ou a via¬ duct or ujidergi'ound, from 42d street to the Battery, thus utilizing the sxmken tracks above 49d street. That very excellent and practicable sclieiue was met by such a howl of opposition tliat Commodoi'e Vanderbilt withdrew it. The Central road might now make an an-augemeut witli the owners of the .ircade charter, by which an underground road could be built under Broadway, between the Battery and 53d street. Any new charter for a connecting road would meet all kiuds of opposition, and the capitalists who undertook to build it would be beset by hoards of blackmailers, legal, legislative and financial. Property- holders would also give the promoters more or less trouble. But the Arcade charter is in existence, and is nearly out of its legal entanglements. By an arrangement with the New York Central, its owners migiit carry out only a part of their plan, at least for the present; that is, they might make a tunne! connection, admitting of four tracks, leaving it open to complete the Arcade idea later ou. the East River, between Grand sti-eefc and Broadway, The unex¬ pected success of the first bridge, both in tlie way of travel and income, wan-ants the expectation that a second bridge would te equally popular and profitable. But \\-e doubt if the property- holders of New York city would care to holj) to build this new bridge. It w6uld bo simply opening a new avenue that would check the growth of this city and help build up Brooklyn. Hence, if constiaicted, it would probably be an exclusively Brooklyn en¬ terprise. It is very likely the existing City Hall Bridge added very greatly to the population and business of the regions on the other side of the East River; and that New York, which paid half the expense, has very little to show for it. Perhaps this is rather a naiTow view to take of a matter of such general public utility; but property-holders do not generally eare to pay out money which brings thein no return. The Central and Hudson River road could tlien withdraw a good many of its out-of-town trains, if not indeed all of tliem, from the 42d street depot, and stop them at 138th street, where it has a large acreage for terminal facilities. This woidd permit local trains the whole length of the island, aud out-of-town passengers could be transfeiTed to them at 138th street so as to reach :iny part of the cify. All this could probably be done within five years' time, but to meet immediate necessities the Manhattan Company ought to be encouraged to build extra tracks for through trains on the Third and Sixth Avenue roads. This would be an a,oproximatiou, at least, to rapid transit, and would increase the carrying capacity of that sow overci'owded STStera, The case, however, would be gi-eatly altered if New York arid" Brooklyn became one city, A second bridge would add largely to the pojHilation and taxable value of that part of New Vork lying ea-st of the bridges, and ^vonld thus help to swell the tax receipts of the amalgamated cities. Has not the time come when a union of interests should be seriously considered? The only real opposition will come from tho local I'oliticiahs of Brooklyn, who would fear that in the event of anue,\-ation their occupation would bo gone, or at any rate their local irupoi'tance and power greatly diminished. We are convinced that a union would lead to better government: to a stoppage of waste, and to a genera! purification of our local politics. The then iiii]jeria! city coidd uot afford to tolerate boodle Aldermen nor countenance numicipal maladministration. Still, wliile our taxpayers might ob.ioct to a bridge at Grand street arid Broadway they would he quite willing to see tlie proposed one at BlackwelTs Island constructed. This would unite the railway sys¬ tem of Long Island witli (hat of the country. It must be confessed, however, it would confer no special benefit on this city, for any movement of jiopulation it might encourage would be from crowded Ne»- York to iuterior points ou Long Island, The Mugwump and so-called independent press are having much to say as t