Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1655: December 2, 1899

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December 2, 1899. RECORD AND GUTDE. 841 ESTABLISHED ^ f^RRPH 81^4^ 1868. 'DE/oTIDToi^E^L[:STWE.IIiU!LDi^'G\r^^flTEeT^JRE,^^OUSEV^OU)DEGQÎÎAT10:f. , Bt/SltJESSAilDTHEMESOFGElJERftL iNtO^ESl. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Puàliisficd every talurday. Telëphonk, Cokti-andt 1370. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. •' Eiaerea a( (Ho Posc-Olfïae ai New Sorte, IV. ï„ as second-ci-ats malteK." Vol. LXIV. DECEMBER 2, 1S99. No. 1G55 —T- HERE is undoubtedly a better feeling pervading Wall Street 1 as a result of the relief from the disquieting suggestions that a prospect of continued dear inoney creal:ed. The Secretary of the Treasury has added to the value of his initial step to re¬ move gloomy anticipations Gy extending the time within which he will receive bonds for rédemption. To this was added this week indications of an extension of that policy of agreement that has done so much to help the trunk line situation. It is not sn much the immédiate effects of this policy ou railroad shares that encourages the market as the indication its extension présents of the growing prominence of flnancial to the lessening of rail¬ roading ambition in railroad management. This makes decid¬ edly for the interest of the security holders. The railroad man¬ ager, pure and simple, having the banker between himself and the security holder, has too often been more anxious to build up a big business at the expense of a rival than to maKe returns on the capital entrusted to him; hence the railroad industry, as a whole, has received less proflt and endured more adversity than any other in the country, With the banker able to curb the flghting qualifies of tbe railroad man the future ci the industry should be much better than its past, The banker can take cooler views, and must take more prudent ones, as he is in direct touch with the real owners of the raiiroads, so that, în. so far as he appears in the management in a représentative capacity for the latter, his influence will be directed more towards keeping up than cutting rates, and bonds, and stocks wlll beneflt accordlngly. Industrials bave not keep up with Raiiroads in the market, but so soon as they begin making tbeir statements and paying their dividends at the opening of the new year they will undoubtedly come into line. Taken with the continued activity in genernl business, thèse things make the prospect in the security market quite cheerful. AMONG the items of news current this week that relating to the organizatlon of the Alliance Realty Company, given elsewhere in this issue, is to our mind the most important. Without référence to the particular aims and objects of ttiis company, it may be said that the realty market has been awaiting the development of the principle in¬ volved in its organizatlon. This is, to use a term now of common application, the mobilizing of pecuniary resources to meet the in¬ creased importance of the article dealt in. The best class of New York realty is no longer controlled by moderate sums of money. Every large building represents an investment equal to a consid- erp.hle f^-tune, and as the demand for increased size grows it wlH be out of the power of even men of large means to build them, or the number of these men will be so reduced that they will be unable to supply the demand. The multi-millionaîre and the great corporations, not building corporations pure and simple, bave done their part in showing the way; further progress must, in the main, come from other directions. The Incorporated build¬ er is not unknown hère; but, except in one instance, that of the Bowling Green Building, and then only to a limited extent, we do not recall an instance ln which the public were asked to subscribe capital for building purposes. It has been the rule thaï the stock of such enterprises should be subscribed by a few Indiv¬ iduals who reaped ail ;.he beneflt or sustained all the loss result¬ ing from it. As the capital requirements of the industry grow, however, ît follows tbat it must be sought in a larger fleld. That Eiich a field is open for stock opérations in realty there can he no doubt whatever, Under, able and honest management, there is Lo reason why thîs form of investment should noi be as attrac¬ tive to the large and small investor when represented by bonds and stock as it has always been ln the forms of mortgages and deeds, with the added ladvantage that very Bmall amounts of capital can participate in its benefits, both of security and proflt. Ihat success is assured for enterprises of this nature wben prop¬ erly launched and managed is proved by lhe popularity of ths mortgage bonds already on the market, which though paying cnly a comparatively low rate of interest, are by reason of tho guarantee cî value back of them, so much în favor that it is no exaggeration to say that the supply is unequal to the demand. The Realty MarksL —p HB week's dealing is in no wise dîssimilar from the busi- i. ness which preceded it during the summer and autumn months, The transactions related almost exciusively to residen¬ tial property, improved and unimproved, Some fiats and tene¬ ments were apparently bought for investment, and a number of private houses, including a couple in select neighborhoods, were reported sold to intending occupants. But the body of the deal¬ ing, apart from private houses, was of a professional nature— trades involving new apartments, and purehases of vacant lots and antiquated premises, The notable authentic transactions made public during the week are quickly enumerated. The sale in the 17th Ward, alluded to in this column last Saturday, provad to comprise some eleven parcels în lst avenue, lst and 2d streets, wbich were disposed of by the Dubois estate to Joseph L. Butten¬ weiser. Daniel E. Seybel bought eight lots on the north side of 67th street, 150 feet east of Columbus avenue; Charles L. Tiffany sold six lots on the north corner of 5Lh avenue and 99th street; Russell Sage sold the north corner of Central Park West and 67tj'i street, 25x100; A, Colner bcught two new 7-story flats ou the north side of 32d street, 150 feet east of Sth avenue, giving in part payment land in Mount Vernon; Christian Loos sold the 4-story factory at Nos. 223 and 225 West 46th street; Martin Bros, sold the 8-story apartment house at 40 and 42 East 25th streef Poley & Sniffin resold for Chas F. Hoffman, Jr., and Francis Ward tbe 5-story business building at No. 80 Warren street. The one sensation of theweekwastheannouneementthat a com¬ pany was forming, as an offshoot of the Central Realty. Bond and Trust Company, to develop part of the latter's real estate hold¬ ings. The new corporation is to be known as the Alliance ReaUy Company, and is to hâve a capital of $3,000,000. It numbers mong its directors Henry 0. Havemeyer, James Stillman of tha City National Bank, Frederick P. Olcott of the Central Trust Company. Hugh J. Grant, Henry Morgenthau, Frederick South¬ ack and Geo. R. Read, all of whora, except the last mentioned aro connected with the Central Realty, Bond and Trust Company It was reported, in this connection, that the Central Realty Bond and Trust Company has bought the southeast corner of^Broad street and Exchage place, 31x78.6, from J. W. Stickler; the ad¬ joining lot. No, 29 Broad street, 31x78.1x27x78,6, from C. P. Tag. and from A. M. Clonney the L-shaped parcel Nos, 31 and 33 Broad street, and Nos. 54 and 56 Exchange place, fronting 52.S on Broad street, 46 feet on Exchange place, and running 123 feet deep from Broad street and 76 feet from Exchange place. This combined plot, Wlth an earlier purchase, No, 44 to 52 Exchange place it was said, has been resold to the Alliance Realty Company, which Wlll erect on the site a fireproof banking and offlce building M.- Morgenthau declined to give any information as to these re¬ ported real estate transactions, aud other members of the new company were hardly less réticent, The substance of the reports, in so far as they relate to tbe supposed purehases cf the Central' Realty, Bcnd and Trust Company, was antieipated in a rumor printed in this column some time ago, to the effect that the com¬ pany had secured options on property ia Broad street, Exchange place and Beaver street. A member of the organizatlon com¬ mittee yesterday confirmed the report that options were held on property in the neighborhood, and that it was intended that this property should be improved by the company now organizing The invitations to subscribe state the aim of the company is t.^ operate in real estate in Manhattan aud Bronx, It would serve no good purpose to ignore the fact that this has been a dull November, The increase in constructional tost as an isolated circumstance, is not sufficient to explain the inactivity in real estate. Coupled with présent monetary condition, ît ia unquestionably an important factor. But, as a matter of expér¬ ience, some of the most prosperous building pericds hâve been iu times of high prices for materials and labor, The determining influence is the interest rate on money. In ordiuary years the money which goes to the interior during the crop-moving season returns în volume to New York, as the financial center, in No¬ vember, when the interest rate falls to the normal level, and real estate activity is resumed on a large scale. This year the surplus money which should now be returning to New York has foyad employment in the greatly expanded industry and commerce of the interior, There are, of course, other éléments affecting the money market, but the paramount influence is the circumstani-îe that the extraordinary expansion of trade and industry îs absorb-