Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view About OCR text.

282 RECORD AND GUIDE August 12, 1905. up there will be trouble; but at the same time a business man would be foolish not to tread warily and prepare against pos¬ sible disappointments. The best way to safeguard the existing prosperity will be to take it temperately. Real Estate Conditions at Other Centers. (Special Reports to the Record and Guide.) SAN FRANCISCO. The month of June witnessed the largest totals of real estate saies for any single month in the history of San Prancisco. There were 792 sales recorded for a total of $6,911,395. The figures for the month of October, 1904, when the totals were ?6,073,633, were the high^t previous monthly record. The figures for the month just closed are the more remarkable, for in October, 1904, the gpreekles-Phelan sale for $2,600,000 was recorded, while the largest sale in June was for .|700,000. Not only were the figures for the month just closed the highest yet, but the half year ending June SOth was also a record-breaker. There were 4,321 sales recorded in the past six months for a grand total of $29,- 46S,2S3. This is over $3,500,000 higher than the figures for the first half of 1903, the best previous half year, when the figTirea were $25,738,185. Building operations for the half year amount to $11,463,076, made up as follows: Frame buildings, $5,805,336; brick, $4,985,- 840; alterations, $671,900. This is a large increase over last year, the building operations for the entire year 190i amounting to $16,916,118. The development of the State in numerous chaunels ia pro¬ gressing most favorably. San Francisco is prosperous and grow¬ ing because California is actually being developed. The com¬ mencement of work on the Western Pacific Railroad by the Goulds not only indicates progress, but proves that this large Eastern railroad interest feels that they must be represented in California by a through line of their own if they expect to get a share of the increasing business and commerce of the State. Building contracts for the month were filed as follows: Frame buildings. $1,226,224; brick, $997,559; alterations, $153,145. Total, $2,376,928. That there are more than the usual number of vacant houses and flats during the summer months, is apparent to everyone who travels about the city. This is caused by an overbuilding of flats. Many new ones had never found tenants even before the summer began. Increasing population will remedy this if those who are thinking of building will heed the warning. Most of our savings banlcs realize this state of affairs and have been de¬ clining applications for loans from those who were contemplating the erection of fiats in unsuitable locations. THOMAS MAGEE & SONS. ROCHESTER. For several years the city of Rochester has been enjoying re¬ markable prosperity, a large number of factories have been moved here during the past five years and located at the extreme east and west ends of the city. This has greatly stimulated the demand for houses and materially increased rents, but it has not materially affected real estate values until this year. The building operations for the past three years were as fol¬ lows: 3902..........$2,913,142 The population in 1860 was 48.924 1903.......... 1.853,-571 '• " " 1S80 " 89,363 1904.......... 4.225,927 " " " 1900 " 162,608 1905 to July Ist 2,738,142 " " ■' 1905 about 190,000 The number of deeds recorded in the County Clerk's office, so far this year, is probably one-third more than last year. Prices are steadily advancing, both in business and residential property. Land on Main st in the best retail section is held at $3,000 to $4,000 a front foot. Practically no new sectioH or tracts are being opened, but sev¬ eral tracts that have lain dormant for years are now being devel¬ oped, and many of the older parts of the city are being improved. Yours respectfully, C. P. GARFIELD REAL ESTATE CO., — C. P. Garfield. MONTREAL. ■ Mr. Craddock- Simpson, president of the Craddock Simpson Co., leading real estate insurance and financial agents of Montreal, favor the Record and Guide with the following information: The city of Montreal—the principal ocean port of Canada for a.bout seven months of the year—is sharing in the general pros¬ perity of the country, and the growth of population is increasing the demand for house accommodations, of which the supply has been and is insufficient. Rents, both of residential and business properties, have been increasing for the last few years, and they have now about reached a point when a reasonable return can be obtained from the erection of houses, fiats, warehouses and shops, and in consequence a fairly active construction movement is now on. The transfers of real estate in the city for the last few years are as follows: Years. 1902..........1,891 transfers, amounting to $9,093,868 1903..........2,113 " " .' 12,380.557 ISOi..........2,216 " " " 11.840.975 During the first six months of the present year (1905) there have been 1,446 transfers, amounting to $8,254,606, Nine hundred and forty building permits were issued during the first six months of this year, and the cost of the work is stated to be $2,938,839, as compared with 686 permits during the cor¬ responding period of 1904. the cost of the work then being $1,883,- 147. These figures are for buildings within the city proper, and do not include the large number of buildings in the immediate suburbs where there has been a good deal of activity, notably in the southwestern and in the northwestern parts of the city, the former being an extension of the best residential section, and the latter a location for a cheaper class of houses in the vicinity of railway workshops and other factories. There is very little speculative demand as yet for real estate, nearly all the sales made having been for actual use, so that the market is in a healthy condition. The older parts of the city are being improved and some fine office buildings have been erected on St, James st and Place d'Armes. St. Catherine st has become the leading street in Montreal for high-class retail business, and a number of properties have changed hands during the last twelve months at ever-increasing prices. The rapid growth of northwestern Canada and the Immense sums of money to be spent in railway development during the next eight or ten years, will all tend to benefit Montreal, and will make its real estate something to be desired. ATLANTA. Forrest and George Adair, w^ho have been engaged in real estate at Atlanta, Ga., since 1863, and are familiar with the upbuilding of that city, answering a request for information concerning the real estate status there this present year, write the Record and Guide as follows: It is true that during the past year the real estate transfers jn Atlanta have greatly exceeded that of any preceeding year; and we really think that if the records could be compiled, it would show that they have doubled any year in our history. The good price that has been obtained by the farmers for their cotton crop, the successive years of remarkably fine fruit crops, and the general disposition on the part of the farmers to more greatly diversify, has put the South generally in a better condition than it has been in since the Civil War. Furthermore, during Ihe past four or five years, people in this section have been devoting more attention and capital to manufacturing. The erection of a large number of cotton mills throughout the South has put us far ahead of New England on that line. Throughout Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia the iron and coal fields have been developed to a remarkable extent. Near Atlanta, we have wonderful natural resources, being in close proximity to pine and hardwood timber lands, and in min¬ erals we have iron, gold, slate, marble, and others, that are being successfully mined and quarried. The people are industrious, liberal in their views, spend little time discussing politics, religion or the race problem; and in the main, are actively at work, every man doing his part toward the upbuilding of our entire section. Atlanta, being an important railroad center and distributing point, with climatic conditions unsurpassed, having an altitude of about 1,200 ft, above the sea, and with the various railroad systems reaching us in every direction, has. of course, reaped a very great benefit from this general prosperity. The building record for this year is greater than ever known; the government reports show that the postal receipts have made a phenomenal increase, the bank clearances are much larger; and, indeed, by applying any test that is known it can be readily se^n that our progress has been great; and, of course, all this leads up to the information that you seem to desire as to the condition of the real estate market. We regret that we have no statistical information as to the number of conveyances recorded, etc.; but. being in close touch with the market, we know that the year 3904 and 19€5 will show a greater number than any three years of Atlanta's history. FORREST & GEORGE ADAIR. Temporary Edifice for St. Thomas's. The Andrew J. Robinson Co., of 123 East 23d st, has signed a contract to build for St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, a tem¬ porary structure of brick, on the site of the brownstone Gothic edifice destroyed by fire, on the northwest corner of 5th av and 53d St. The structure will cost about $25,000, and will be of fireproof construction. The Rev. Ernest M. Stires, rector of St. Thomas's, informed the Record and Guide that there will then be built around thia temporary place of worship a permanent edifice which will be almost a duplicate of the former building. The arrangement with the Robinson Co. includes clearing' the site and removing the unsafe parts of the walls. The tower seems to be intact, and the present intention is to permit it to remain. Otherwise, about sixty per cent, of the church walls will have to come down. The temporary building will be of firenroof construction, and necessarily of smaller ground dimensions than the present build¬ ing, At last accounts no architect had been selected, but it