Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1648: October 14, 1899

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October 14, 1899. RECORD AND GUIDE. 'SA7. The Realty Market. AVERY considérable accession of activity was noted this week in the brokerage branch of tbe real estate market. The sale of the southeast corner of Broadw'ay and Spring street, supported as it was by a number of sizable transactions, may be taken to mark the opening of the fall season. From the week's trading, however, it would be rash to venture any conclusion as to the character which business is to assume, The deals con¬ summated were for the most part of a spéculative nature, affect¬ ing unimproved property. Nevertheless, the élément of invest¬ ment was somewhat more conspicuous in the news budget than for some time past. T^"& buyer of the Broadway corner, though intending to build, will hold his purchase as a permanent invest¬ ment. Two big elevator apartments were definitely withdrawn from the market. But, though more apparent tban during the summer, the investment tendency was not sufficiently pronounced to justify the inference that a change has come over the market; it was not more marked than last autumn or this spring, Tbe spéculative purchase and resale, wlth building loans, of va¬ cant or antiquated property bas furnished the substance of the movement in real estate, which developed on the revival of the building industry five years ago, During this time tbe activity has affected alternately several grades of unimproved property, and différent section of the city. Most recently the movement has been In uptown sites suitable for improvement with elevator apartments, in antiquated premises on the lower East Side, and in vacant lots north of the Harlera. But with advance of land values in the active districts, coupled with advance in cost of con¬ structîon, building loan operators say there is no longer any profit in building, and that the demand for lots is failing off. Some look for a réduction in cost of material, particularly steel and iron, as a conséquence of extensions under way in manufac¬ turing plants. Meantime, the prospect in the lot market is not so good as it was a year ago. As yet there is little actual évidence of compensatîng activity iu improved real estate, Such compen* sation is theoretically deduced frcm the conditions which obtain în the realty market, and in the Stock Exchange—rising prices in the former and failing or stationary prices in the later. But the compens-ating movement îs being delayed by what appears to be a temporary dearness of money, the termination of which cannot be foretold with précision. The realty market Is evidently in a state of transition, and the attitude of brokers is one of expec- tancy and hésitation. This attitude is especially apparent among auctioneers, who'at this time of year commonly begin to malte up generous sehedules of voluntary offerings. Brokers and auc¬ tioneers alîke are looking to the Eno sale, next week, to discover the latent tendency of the market. Last January a similar func- tion was performed especially by the sale for tbe King estate, at which the compétition for uptown building sites astonished no one more than the professional habitues of the Salesroom. The Eno sale is expected to tell whether business is to be chiefly in unimproved or improved property, and until that is known bro¬ kers and auctioneers are hesitating to lay ont their fall eam¬ paign. The most important transaction of the week was unquestion¬ ably tbe sale by Woodbury G. Langdon to Charles F. Ayer, of the southeast corner of Broadway and Spring street, comprising a plot 51.2 on Broadway, 70.7 on Crosby street, and 200 on Spring, The buyer, a son of Frederick Ayer, of Bostou, who has recently attested renewed confidence in New York realty by purehases of downtown property, is negotiating for adjoining Iand. But in any event a modem building wlll be erected on this week's purchase. Mr. Langdon gives the high rate of taxation as the principal cause of his détermination to sell. There is no doubt that the gênerai property tax discriminâtes unfairly against an¬ tiquated improvements. Under this tax the assessed valuations are based on some more or less uniform relation to the selling value of the estate. But the selling value may be, and very fre¬ quently îs, far in excess of a normal capitalizatlon of the income obtainable from It at a given moment. For example, overbuild¬ ing leads to a temporary réduction cf rents, although the price of property advanees in anticipation of a readjustment of the sup¬ ply and demand for tbe class of housing affected. But there is neither rhyme nor reason în a Iaw which practically taxes pros¬ pective, instead of actual earnings. When the tax valuations were published laèt spring instances came to light where, in modem downtown buildings, fully rented, off Broadway, the tax confiscated 50 per cent, of the rent roll; in some old buildings the tax exceeded the grosa in¬come. The only equal tax is one which leaves Individuals—owners of modem and antiquated property, whether in active or dormant sections—in the same relative condition in which it finds thera, and such a tax must needs bave référence to the productivity as well as the market value of property. But the principal injury wrought by this year'a tas arose from its sudden and abnormal increase. In the long run, rents rougbiy adjust themselves even to a vicioue Sys¬ tem of taxation, and with the scale that now obtains In Broad¬ way, a skyscraping building wiil certainly give Mr. Ayer a handsome return on his investment. A renting agency which, lest year at this time, had thirty buildings wholly or partly va-, cant, h'as now only two lofts left for rent, both old; the rents made in the meantime were at an advance of from 5 tp' 20 per cent., according to location. The sale of the 6-story elevator apartment house, the Endy- mion, 100x100.11, at No. 352 West 117th street, by the builder, Judson Lawson, shows that the activity în Harlem flats, noted last week, was not sporadic. Mr. Lawson takes the 5-story store and loft building, No. 120 William street, în part payment, but the Endymion will be held by the buyers,the O.S.Raynolds estate, as an investment. The Endymion is an excellent example of the success wbich attends on an intelligent building opération com¬ pleted în a rising market for land and materials. Its provisions for light and air are unusually generous. Each suite of apart¬ ments contains a private hall, and is separated by a brick wall from its neîghbors. Furthermore, the rents are extremely reason¬ able, ranging frora $45 to $50 for 6 and 7 rooms, with cold storage refrigerator, and every modem convenience. There are thirty- six suites, the gross rent being $21,012. The original asking pries for the house, when It was completed this spring. was $200,000, According to Mr. Lawson, it would require $40,000 more to build the same bouse on the same lots to-day than the property cost him, lots alone in the immédiate vieinity having advanced $4,000 each sînce Iast year. These figures amply verify the commenta on Harlem conditions made in thîs column a week ago. In an¬ other elevator apartment, the 7-story Blenheim, Nos. 2491 nnd 2493 Broadway, near 93d street, sold thîs week, by Theresa Rein¬ hardt, the rents range from $1,050 per year to $1,150. It is tha first of the new output of elevator apartments with a high scala of rents to be disposed of. but no authentic détails are at hand concerning the opération. The sale of several large plots ia Bronx Borough recalls atten¬ tion to tbe fact that tbe Manhattan Railway Co. filed last week a large batch of consents of owners and mortgagees to the ex¬ tension of the elevated road in 3d avenue to Fordham. The "In¬ struments are supplementary to a book containing the consents of 344 individuals deposited flfteen or twenty years ago, when the projection was planned under the name of the New York, Ford-* ham & Bronx Railroad. The transaction by which Isaac L. Rice gives to W. W. & T. M. Hall the Egbert L. Viele mansion at the south corner of River¬ side Drive and 88th street in part payment for the plot at tha south corner of 89th street, is a prellminary step toward the con¬ struction of another handsome dwelling in an avenue whlch, during the year, has sprung Into architectural and social famé. The sale of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asyium, comprising the block bounded by 5th and Madison avenues, 51st and 52d streets, to a client of Richard M. Montgoraery, is undoubtedly the raost far-reaching in îts conséquences of any of the transactions noted. But, except the fact that the offer submitted by Mr. Mont¬ gomery has been informally accepted by the trustées aa the best of several proposais, nothing is known concerning the prospective buyer or his purpose in regard to the property. The sale of sev¬ eral high-priced dwellings, of the old Belmont Riding Acad¬ emy, in St. Nicholas avenue, near 124th street, of a large plot in 138th and 139tb streets, east of 7th avenue, and of Nos. 91 and 93 Mercer street, complète the notable items in a decidedly inter¬ esting schedule of brokerage transactions. THE RAPID TRANSIT ROUTE. The Corporation Counsel, having approved the contract for thâ construclion o£ the rapid transit road, to refresh the memorios of readers of The Record and Guide, the route of the work aa laid down in the resolutions of the Rapid Transit Commission, and in the report of theii- engineer, Wm. B. Parsons, Is recalled from our issue of November 14, ISOlJ. About this date Mr. Parson» presented to the Commission a. plan for building a rapid transit railroad ln compliance with a resolution of the Commission passée! the previous August, that the total cost shall not exceed $30,- 000,000, and to proceed along what is known as the Elm street route. ■ This is from the Post Offlce, under City Hall Park, Elm street and 4th avenue to or near the Grand Central Depot, there dividing into an east and west side route. The west side route to proceed under 42d street to Eroadway and Boulevard to a point iftibove '125th street. The east side route to proceed under Pai'k avenue and over private property to the Harlem River and acrosa and beyond the Harlem lîlver to as great a distance as the pro¬ posed lirait of cost would allow. In order to supply rapid transit facilities to the section north of llOth street, between Sth and 3cl avenues, the report suggested that If, Instead of carrying the new route through and along 3d avenue, or to the eastward of it, ît should be carried fo the westward, it would be removed from existing raiiroads and serve to create its own traffic. For this two alternatives were presented: One by laying out an ela-