Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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September 14, 1912 RECORD AND GUIDE 483 formed like life Insurance companies, on a mutual plan? Building and loan associa¬ tions have, of course. Introduced the ad- A'antages of co-operation into house build¬ ing; but such associations have rarely been united with the development of par¬ ticular pieces of land. It looks as if the time were ripe for some such association— for the formation of co-operative develop¬ ment companies which would share their profits with its purchasers, and by means of community action strengthen subur¬ ban life on its weakest side by providing many conveniences and economics which are beyond the reach of the isolated in¬ dividual family. The Week in Real Estate. The business of the private sales market this week was very limited, and contained no items of special interest. The inactiv¬ ity was accounted for in large measure by the Jewish holidays. The week, howeyer, was productive of news of first rate im¬ portance bearing on real estate properties. This was the crop report of the Depart¬ ment of Agriculture, which is discussed In some detail on another page. The report, coupled with evidence from various industries regarded as barometric, confirm the general belief that the country is about to enter a new period of large activity in commerce and manufactures. The condition in agriculture disclosed by the report adds a basic element to the analogy which had already begun to de¬ velop between the current business situa¬ tion and that of 1897. In the autumn ot that year were noted the first strong cur¬ rents of business revival which introduced the subsequent decade of general prosper¬ ity. Time will, of course, be required for the community to recover its normal purchas¬ ing power before any general moA'ement will take place in real estate. How soon i^ such a movement to be expected? If we fall back on experience, next year should be a dull year. In 1898 real estate was de¬ cidedly quiet, both as regards transfers and building operations. Capital was scarce, being "drafted away from real estate partly by the Spanish-American war but more especially by the strong de¬ mand for funds in other branches of busi¬ ness. The flrst marked symptom of recovery in the real estate market was observed in January, 1899, when two notable auction sales were held on the same day in the old Real Estate Salesroom, at 111 Broad¬ way. These were the sales of the King and Bathgate estates, the former embrac¬ ing flfty-five building sites, mostly just north of Central Park, and the latter 144 vacant lots, mainly in the Tremont sec¬ tion of the Bronx. The report of the sales, printed in the Record and Guide of Jaimary 14, 1899, reads in part: "That a turning point has been reached, ... is the conclusion universally drawn from the results of the King anti Bathgate estates' sales on Tuesday last. What that result would be was largely a matter of conjecture. Good judges of the market doubted the possibil¬ ity of disposing of upward of a million dollars' worth of property in one day without serious sacrifice of values. "The unexpectedly high prices ob¬ tained at Tuesday's great sale illustrates the tendency frequently observed in the real estate market after a period of de¬ pression for the disinterested public to be the flrst to recognize the true value of property. For years past owners and ap¬ praisers have been marking down values so as to overcome the unreadiness of the public to buy. And now that capital again seeks the realty market by virtue of the reaction of economic conditions, the pro¬ fessional appraiser is surprised to learn that, during the years when he has been marking down real estate, real estate has quietly been absorbing value trom public and private improvements, a fall in the interest rate, and a thousand and one other indirect and more or less obscure agencies." The sales, it should be noted, were of building sites, and the buyers were ex¬ clusively loan operators and builders. The sales foreshadowed the building boom of 1899, They were a reflection of the new speculative temper of the market, and had no bearing on investment buying, which did not develop until considerably later. They are referred to here to show just when the flrst large current of activity was observed. It is not likely, however, that we shall have to wait a whole year now for a similar current to develop. At that time the only special factor tending to ln(iuce building was the recent intro¬ duction in uptown streets of electric power for elevators in apartment houses. To¬ day the rapid transit situation is a far more effective stimulant. There is every reason to believe that we shall have a prosperous and generally active building year in 1913, and with numbers of new buildings contemplated, there is certain to be a lively demand for sites. As to just when investment buying will reach large proportions, indications are not clear; but there can be little doubt with respect to professional and speculative enterprise. The cost of buiiding materials this week continued to move upward. Even com¬ mon brick stiffened under slightly im¬ proved buying, although that market is still nervous. So long as steel continues to go up, other buiiding materials will follow. This will make costs of construction somewhat higher next winter and next spring, but industrial conditions are shaping them¬ selves so favorably that, despite the rise in prices, construction work will go ahead on a large scale because the demand for new buiiding space will be there. Suburban construction work has been below the average this year. This is par¬ ticularly true of New Jersey. In New York proper, exclusive of Richmond, Building Department statistics show a total of 8,557 new buildings projected, as against 9,123 in the same period last year. In New Jersey the falling off in new building operations has been 47 per cent, and in Westchester 12 per cent, ■With such a showing it is not possible to charge the metropolitan district with over-construction in 1912, The result should be the absorption of all a\ailable renting space this October, and before the first of the year a very considerable de¬ mand for new living quarters should be apparent, not only in the city, but in the suburbs as well. At least, that is the way the building material interests have flgured it out, and they are such strong believers in this basis of computation that they are ac¬ tually loading in anticipation of heavy demand and higher buiiding material prices. News from manufacturing cen¬ ters in practically every basic line of building material is to the effect that pro¬ duction is running near to capacity, but that light stocks are being carried, be¬ cause such is the demand for immediate delivery that premiums are being made on guaranteed deliveries in such lines as roofing tile, architectural terra cotta, some types of terra cotta fireproofing and floor¬ ing, up to March 1. Architects' boards are well filled, ac¬ cording to Dodge reports, and the pros¬ pects for improving real estate bought this year on speculation, both in and out of the city, are A'ery fa\-orabIe to winter business. Building managers are worried over the coal outlook. The managers of numerous large office buildings in New A'ork and Newark are reserving all the coal they can get, even at premiums, in anticipa¬ tion of a possible rise in the price of this commodity should early winter weather set in before the mines succeed in making up a part, at least, of the 5,000,000 ton shortage reported from Pennsylvania. Prices remain steady, however, on Clear¬ field and Cambria (iounty soft, largely used by factories and by some transpor¬ tation lines, and this is where the heav¬ iest drain is now centered in anticipation of a possible advance. Building contrac¬ tors who use coal for air compression and hoisting Jjurposes will do well to protect themselves in this commodity at the ear¬ liest possible date. How the City Is Meeting the Need For Schools in the Bronx. Editor of tJie Record and Guide : The late Mark Twain used to say that, "It was better not to know so many; things, than to know so many things which ain't so." I notice of late in .sev¬ eral of the local papers various resolu¬ tions such as are usualy offered by Mr. Wiseman, calling attention to the lack of school accommodations in the borouglii and intimating that the Board of Educa¬ tion and the Board of Estimate have been remiss in furnishing sucli facilities. In order' that these gentlemen may speak with knowledge hereafter I beg leave to submit a few facts. The agitation for more schools is justi¬ fied but belated. The Bronx is reaping the results of the neglect of a former municipal administration. Some of the accommodations for which we are now waiting should have been provided five years ago. The machinery employed in securing public improvements is ponder¬ ous and complicated and turns out a pro¬ duct slowly. Practically nothing was done for school accommodations for four years prior to January 1, 1910. The present Board of Estimate was installed on Jan¬ uary 1, 1910. On the Bth of May following it made its flrst appropriation for new Bronx schools, authorizing the expendi¬ ture of $300,000 for new P. S. 46, Bain¬ bridge aA'enue and 196th street (opened last April), and of $240,000 for new P. S, 44, Prospect avenue and 176th street (opened September, 1911). The June fol¬ lowing it authorized $4,500 for portable buildings for P, S. 8, Bedford Park. Since then there has been a constant succession of similar appropriations, among which are the following: 1. June 3, 1910. Addition to P. S. 40, Prospect avenue and Jen¬ nings street, 12 classrooms (oc¬ cupied November, 1911)........- $96,600 2. June 10, 1910. Addition to P. S. 3, 157th street, east of Courtlandt avenue ............ $55,200 3. June 10, 1910, Equipment for new P. S, 16, Wakefield........ $50,320 4. June 29, 1910, New P, S. 47, Randolph street and Ham¬ mond avenue. (Ready October 7, 1912) .'.........................$300,000 5. Nov. 11, 1910, P. S. 30, 141st street and Brook avenue. Con¬ struction work ................ $22,858 6. Addition, P, S, 39, Longwood avenue and Kelly street......$182,744 7. December 22, 1910. Pour port¬ able buildings between Foster and Faile streets............... $5,400 8. Addition, P, S. 43, Brown place • and 135th street................. $83,500 9. March 9, 1911. Addition to P. S. 20, Fox street................ $48,710 10. July 17, 1911. Building and site to be acquired in the vicinity of Union avenue and Bast 155tli street .....................$366,030 11. July 17, 1911. Building and site to be acquired in the vicinity of Tinton avenue and 163d street ...........................$366,030 12. July 17, 1911. Building and site to be acquired in the vicinity of Teller avenue and 168th street.