Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 65, no. 1671: March 24, 1900

Text version:

TVIarch 24, igoo. RECORD AKD GVIDB. 497 ObM>1oRW-Estate.BuiLoiffc #^iTECTUi^>{fflJsEtfou>DEanMiQit BtfsDfcss AifoThemes of GEjfcR^ IjftEUfST^ . PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. ' Piiblisheil fiirry Sotiirday. Tel&fbone, . CrtRTLANDTJ-lS'TOi " Communicalions should be addressed to ' ■' C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. " J. T. UNDSEY, Business Manager. "'Entered ai the Post-Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. LXV. MARCH 24, 1900. No. 1671. SO we are to have a Currency Act boom in the Stock Market after all. This is proper and according to precedent. We use the word boom in the limited sense in which it is employed In. the Street to characterize any upward movement of good proportions. This particular one starts off well, and is dis¬ criminative, as it ought to be. Naturally the railroad list has the most attention because it represents more directly the gen- ■eral prosperity of the country. The stocks most in favor are those from which most is to be expected, the great trunk liners and the roads that have briUiantly worked out their redemption ■from the adTersity of '93. The cutting that was then done on capitalization, and tbe steady work of economizing on expenses ,and building up physical conditions since, are now reaping their reward through the advances in the prices of preferred ancl common stocks. The coalers occupy a favorable condition through the effects of manufacturing industry on the coal trade. In referring to this matter some time ago, we said Great Britain was the largest producer of coal in the world; but, since that time the figures of production for 1898 have been issued, show¬ ing a comparatively small difference between that of the United States and of Great Britain, and as that of the former grew so tremendously since, it will doubtless be found, when the '99 figures are out, that the United States has forged ahead of Great Britain in the production of coal, as it did a few years ago in the output of pig-iron. So far as their effects on the prospertiy of ' a nation are concerned, it is better to be the greatest producer ■of iron and coal than of gold and silver. The former by their greater usefulness finally bring the latter anyway. Local trac¬ tion stocks are awaiting the results of assessment under the franchise Tax Law, which will be announced soon, and there ia a hesitation to touch the Industrials speculatively while Con¬ gress is in session and the fear of adverse legislation is kept :allve. As soon as an assurance is received that no menacing legislation will be offered against trade conbinations, we will Bee a revival of speculative interest in this line of securities ^Iso. THE Confession of Judgment bill, so-called, which has been passed by the Legislature, unfortunately contains a clause that is, in our opinion, quite objectionable. This is that the Corporation Counsel "shall not institute any proceeding for acquiring title to real estate by condemnation proceedings, ex- ■cept for opening streets, unless the same shall have been ap¬ proved by the concurrent vote of all. the members of the Board ■of Estimate and Apportionment upon a statement to be fur¬ nished said board of the valuation of such real estate as as¬ sessed for purposes of taxation." It is not the condition of the approval of the board that we object to, but the requirement that It shall be unanimous. This would put it in the power of any ■one member of the board to obstruct any or all the improve¬ ments, except street openings, that may be proposed hereafter, 3nd might result in serious mischief. The charter gives the toard the right to pass upon indebtedness ci-eated for the pur¬ pose of carrying out improvements, but requires only approval of indebtedness for the repaving of streets to. be unanimous. "Even this is unnecessary and dangerous. After an improvement Tias gone through the various initiatory and Intermediate bodies that have a say in Its adoption it ia altogether unnecessary to T>ut such a check as unanimous consent in the final approving "body, for the reason previously given, that it may give a nega¬ tive control of all to one individual. All parks, bridges, docks :and buildings, including schoolhousea, flre and police stations, ■would be affected by this clause. Mayor Van Wyck also ei- Itressed this view yesterdar at a hearing on the bill in question, aiul it is one that ought to lafloence fatore action upon it by the I^eglBlature. Effects of the Building Code. CONTINUED BUILDING OF SEVEN-STORY APARTMENTS AND A SPECULATIVE MOVEMENT IN STREET LOTS. -p HE brokerage i-eports of theweek do not reveal any access of ■^ acti^vity in the real estate market. The volume of business was hardly half the normal average at this season of the year. Private houses and elevator apartments, and lots suitable for im¬ provement.with the one or the other of these housings, continue to enjoy a steady, though by no means large, demand. To some extent, low-priced lots outside the flre-limits in Bronx appear to be having a similar experience, But in respect of all other sorts of property there is at the moment either no market at all or tha market is extremely irregular. The continued production of elevator flats, despite high cost of construction, is partly'accounted for by the new building code. The speculative constructional movement in elevator flats dates back some two years, when one of the electric companies, began to supply power for elevators on the West Side. Since then the extension of the electric power service has progressed with extraordinary rapidity, the West and East Sides and Har¬ lem being already in a position to choose between the alternat¬ ing current of one company and the direct current of another. During these two years, however, the great majority of the ele¬ vator apartments erected were erected on the avenues ahd cer¬ tain wide streets. Central Park West and the Boulevard, for example, were transformed as if by magic. Lot quotations on the avenues and on streets over 60 feet wide advanced by leaps and bounds, astonishing observers whose vision did not pene¬ trate beneath the surface. The narrow streets were compara¬ tively neglected. On the other hand, since the new building code went into effect by far the greater number of the elevator flats for which plans have been filed have been projected on street sites. The new building" code permits the construction of 7-story semi-fireproof flats, not above 85 feet in height, without regard to the width of the thoroughfares. The act of 1885, regu¬ lating the height of dwelling houses, provided that dwellings intended to be used for more than one family, when not flre¬ proof, should "not exceed 70 feet upon all streets and averiuea not exceeding 60 feet in width, and 80 feet upon all streets and avenues exceeding 60 feet in width." By an amendment of 1897 it was intended to permit semi-fireproof dwellings not exceeding 75 feet in height on streets and avenues of whatever width, but the Building Department interpreted the amendment illiberally, ruling that the permission to build 75 feet applied only to streeta over 60 feet wide; on 60-foot thoroughfares a height of only 70 feet was permitted, except in flreproof construction. Elevator service in a 6-story flat was not an inviting proposition from the investor's and, consequently, from the builder's, point of view, although attractive enough in a 7-story flat. It was impossible to get seven stories in 70 feet of height, but seven stories were by clever planning obtainable in the 75-foot elevation, which, by the way, the framers of the law had intended merely as a liberal altitude for a 6-atory structure. The new building code expressly allows semi-fireproof con¬ struction up to S5 feet, regardless of the width of the street, the number of stories, however, being limited to seven or less. The effect of this provision has been to open up to builders of the now typical 7-story semi-flreproof apartment house a great body of cheap land, that is, cheap by comparison with the land on the avenues, which was not before available, and which has had, in a sense, the effect of offsetting the rise in the cost of construction. Owing to the new building code we have, therefore, a speculative movement in street lots in the choice flat-house sections, while for two years past activity was confined chiefly to the avenues. It is safe to say that the building code has added 25 per cent, to the intrinsic value of lots in uptown 60-foot streets. This fact is not yet generally recognized by laymen who have lots for saie, and until it is builders and building loan operators will continue to enjoy the legitimate fruits of their professional knowledge. The'sale, as brokers, by R.L Brown's Sons of some 35 lots, com¬ prising part of the old Fleetwood Park Trotting Track, in Bronx, would seem to indicate that speculative building may prove in¬ viting even at the present time on low-priced lots outside tho flre limits. The rise in coestructional cost has not been so high, relatively speaking, in the case of a frame house as in the case of a 5-story flat. Last fall, too, a canvass of the borough re¬ vealed the fact that the renting demand for 2-family houses and low-priced private dwellings was considerably in excess of the supply, and builders have uniformly succeeded in selling this sort of housing as soon as completed. The buyer of the lota sold by R, I, Brown's Sons Is a builder, who wlllno doubt erect one and tiro-famlly houses, preisumably of frame, as tbe proper¬ ty Ues oatBlde the flre limits. This bolldine operatlcm Till b* 1