Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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August 5, 1911.. KECORD AxND GUIDE 167 lower part of the city was the sale by the American Exchange National Bank of one-half of the twenty-six foot lot at 132 Broadway, The buyer is the Guaranty Trust Company, which recently acquired the old Mutual Life property adjoining, at the southeast corner of Cedar street. The piece just sold will be added to the plot and the entire site improved with a six- story building to contain the largest banking room in the city. The other por¬ tion of the lot will be retained by the bank, and it is said that a five or six- story banking annex will be built. The largest sale of the week took place on Morningside Heights and will involve a building operation which will be dis¬ tinctly new in the city. The Clark estate property, comprising the block front on the west side of Broadway, between I15th and 110th streets, was bought by Joseph Paterno for about $700,000, and he is planning to erect two sixteen-story apart¬ ment houses on the site, to cost about $1,- 000,000 each. These will be the tallest apartment houses in the city, no struc¬ tures of this type having heretofore reached over twelve stories. The site se¬ lected is one of the most desirable in this section, owing to its unique suroundings, which guarantee perpetual light and air. There is apparently no reason why the experiment should not be successful and the operation will no doubt be watched with'interest by other builders. Besides having more than the usual amount of light and air, the tenants in these build¬ ings %v:il have extra protection from danger by fire. The law forbids the use of exposed wood in buildings over twelve stories in height and all trim must there¬ fore be fireproof. This adds considerably £0 the cost of the structure, but the in¬ crease in rentable space should more than offset this. The sale of this plot disposes of the last of the vacant holdings of the Clark estate on the upper West Side. The growth of values in tliis section, since the construction of the subway, is well illustrated by this sale. In December, liJ03, the opposite northwest corner of 116th street, a plot a trifie less than one- half the size of the site just sold, brought $130,000, or at the rate of about $13 a square foot. In the present sale, Paterno paid slightly over $31 a square foot. . Before the panic of '97 the leasing of apartment houses on speculation was a rather common occurrence. Since then but few transactions of this nature have been closed. This week a row of three eight-story apartments on West 113th street were leased to one party at an ag¬ gregate rental of $800,000. Any considerable revival of this form of speculation is not particularly desir¬ able, as experience has shown that the owners and tenants of the apartments are apt to suffer in the end, by reason of such leases. A further mercantile improvement of Madison avenue below^ 34th street is con¬ templated. Dr. Thomas A. Emmet, the founder of the Woman's Hospital, is hav¬ ing plans drawn for a tall loft building to occupy the large plot at the southeast corner of 29th street. Five such struc¬ tures have appeared in this part of Madi¬ son avenue in the last two years, and the character of the thoroughfare has been entirely changed. If the cabled report is true, European capital is to be largely interested in the new Woolworth Building. It is reported that a loan of $8,000,000 has been negoti¬ ated abroad and that most of the amount is to come from France. No definite con¬ flrmation of this report could be obtained. The transfer of title of a strip of land on the north side of 115th st, running through from Eighth to Manhattan avenues, reveals a rather unusual transaction. In 1S99, Hyman and Henry Sonn obtained a lease of this property, which was to run during the life of the owner, .Johnston Livingston, and on his death the fee was to be conveyed to the lessee. Mr. Liv¬ ingston died recently and in accordance with the terms of the lease, the property was taken over tRia week by the Sonn brothers. Trading in the Bronx fell off sharply, only about ten sales being reported. Th« most important transaction affecting real estate in this borough was the announce¬ ment that a large theatre is to be built by Archie Bimherg and J. Welter on the ■west side of Prospect avenue, just north of 1153d street. It is understood that this will be the finest theatre in the Bronx. The Building Material Market. Consumers of building materials throughout the metropolitan district rather expect a stiffening in the market as a result of the formal start of subway construction in Manhattan. This belief was strengthened by the general under¬ standing that producers have been oper¬ ating their mills at reduced capacity, and that this will result in a heavy demand upon sucli departments as common brick, Portland cement, lime, structural steel, architectural iron, crushed stone, sand and other materials taken al'ke by build¬ ing work and subway constructipn. As¬ surances were given, however, that noth¬ ing of the kind need be expected for the reason that it will be at least six months before the Public Service Commission's engineering staff can approve the con¬ struction details as prepared by the vari¬ ous engineering companies having sub¬ contracts, and that it. will require at least from three to six m'onths longer to re¬ ceive bids on these specifications. For that reason there is no cause for alarm regarding a general stiffening in build¬ ing material prices. While it is true that manufacturers have been operating their plants on re¬ duced schedule, there is a large reserve stock on hand that will help to maintain an even output during the remainder of the year. If there is any curtailment in supplies it will be in the higher grade of materials for which there is an appar¬ ently increasing demand. One defect that may be expected, how¬ ever, from subway construction during the remainder of the year, is a scarcity of unskilled labor for excavation work. The subway will require at least 22,000 diggers and foremen. The Catskill Water Supply subterranean tunnel now being drilled through Manhattan from Bronx to Brooklyn will require at least 15,000 more laborers of this type. The comple¬ tion of the McAdoo Cross-Meadow Rail¬ road from Hoboken to Newark, of course, will supply a part of this labor, but it will seriously drain the marinet for this kind of artisan in practically all parts of the district. Money continues to be easy for well secured building projects here in Man¬ hattan, and from advices received from the larger lending companies it seems that prospective operations are coming forward satisfactorily, especially in view of the low prices now prevailing for building materials. Perfect Stucco. Editor of the Record and Guide: As to why stucco crazes, the whole fault lies with the mortar mixer and the mechanic. In order to obtain a uniform, even and harmonious finish in stucco, the work must be done within the working period of eight hours; that is to say, as much as can be finished from top to bot¬ tom, with no joints or joinings left over for next day. If this is done and all coats are so applied as to insure an in¬ itial bond, then crazing will be done away with. As to the cement mixing, that ali depends on the quality of cement used, for there are cements that will not con¬ sume as much water and sand as others, and then again take longer to set. In applying the cement, judgment should be used "by the mechanic as to what can be done in a certain time; for if cement is applied according to Mr. Brown's suggestion, the veneer finish that shows itself after three or four hours' set will act the same as if applied on a con¬ crete wall, and, unless backed, pitted and soaked, a bond will not result, and. if it does, it is a very slim one, especially where cement is applied in a coat of an inch thickness. Sands differ, and unless clean, sharp sand is obtainable, the cement will be very unsatisfactory, for the loam, clay, spar and other ingredients found in sand often are the cause of a crazed stucco. An excellent body for stucco will be obtained by using sifted granite grit, clean sand and cement, in proportions of 3, 2 and 1. On buildings where the amount of work is large, with night. Sunday and other interruptions to contend with, it is hard to accomplish work in one body, but if discretion is used and as much is com¬ pleted as can be done in one body, and if a good mortar mixer and good ma¬ terials are applied, the stucco will he satisfactory all around. R. M. C. New York, July 30. Shouldn't We Have Too Much Capit-il ? Real estate ought to be taxed more and more, and the forms of personal property that are taxed should be Hmitpd. The Borough of Manhattan. New York City, not long ago, had 2,200.090 inhabitants. The parcels of real estate assessed were 100.000. The Individuals paying taxes on personal property were only 13.000. A. S. Hewitt, formerly Mayor of New York, said: "The abortion of the tax on prop- sonal property In New York City would attract to tt the capital of the whole world. . . . Taxes should be upon tangible and visible property aJid upon public franchises which have an actual cash value, as shown by their earn.ng power." Mayor Gyanor has recently been making a fight for these ideas, but without much encouragement from the public.^"Col¬ lier's." VENDOR AND BROKER. When a Real Estate Broker Cannot Le¬ gally Become a Purchaser. A real estate broker while acting as such cannot legally become a purchaser of a one-half interest in the property which is the subject of liis agency. A sale of the other half interest to a per¬ son participating in such scheme with knowledge of the facts is likewise illegal and voidable. Brokers are trustees under the law as it is laid down in a decisfon just rendered by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court of the First District. Justice Clark, who writes the opinion, quotes Clark vs. Bird (66 App. Div., 2S4> with approval in the following words; "Where one undertakes to act as agent for another in the sale of property, the rule is inflexible that he violates his trust by becoming the purchaser from his prin¬ cipal, unless the assent of the latter is established by most convincing proof." Citing from Story on Agency in section 211: "Hence it is well settled (to illus¬ trate the general rule) that an agent em¬ ployed to sell cannot himself become the purchaser; ajjd an agent employed to buy cannot himself be the seller. So an agent employed to purchase cannot pur¬ chase for himself." The language of Judge Rapallo in Bain vs. Brown (56 N. Y., 2S5) is considered by the court especially apposite; "If such a transaction as is exhibited by the un¬ disputed facts of this case could stand for a moment, the well established rule that an agent to sell cannot himself be¬ come a purchaser, and that one who undertakes 'to act for another in any mat¬ ter shall not in the same matter act for himself, would be so easy of evasion and ■breaches of the rule so readily covered up by contrivance that it would cease to be of any practical value. When agents and others acting in a fiduciary capacity understand that this rule will be rigid¬ ly enforced, even without proof of actual fraud, the honest will keep clear of all dealings falling within their prohibition, and those dishonestly inclined will con¬ clude that it is useless to exercise their wits in contrivances to evade it. Thus only can such rules be made useful in promoting fair dealing on the part of agents and trustees and preventing frauds." Changeful New York No great city in the world changes its outer garments so rapidly as New Tork. It is only a few years since the Grand Central Station was considered the latest word in terminal building. Already it is torn to the ground, and by May of next year a wonderful new terminal will be set in the heart of the city to rival the Pennsylvania Station. Fifteen years is a long span of life for any large building in New York; for the increase of business is so great that the architect rarely makes due allowance for the natural increment of more than ten years. No sooner had the Pennsylvania Station been opened to the public than the north¬ ern side had to be torn to pieces below ground in order to give proper acccmiro- dation to the Long Island traffic. The number of large new hotels being built is positively terrific. Yet the stream of transient visitors seems to keep up with the space supplied. So far as the gen¬ eral plan of the city goes, Xew York, ow¬ ing to her geographical position, is almost immutable; but she makes up for her limitations in that respect by a con¬ stant change of garments~"Town and Country." The Paris correspondent of a London paper says that in the last 600 years the value of land in Paris has advanced near¬ ly 52,000 per cent. The price of land in the French capital is 812 times that of the average price of land in other parts of France. In the thirteenth century land in Paris compared only as three to one in price with land in the provinces. The land of thirteenth-centurv Paris was worth an average of £104 an acre. "Tlie average value to-day is £o2,00n an acre. It would he interesting to know how the purchasing power of the rent from a given site in Paris compares with the purchasing fpower of the rent yielded by the same property in the thirteenth century.