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April 23, 1904. RECORD AJfD GUIDE 909 I
■■ ESTABUSHED ^^AR,CH2|ii'^1B6B. De/oTED to HEJvL [>rAI^ . BU1LDI^'G A,RCrflTECTJRE .HoUSElUOU) DEGOlATlOfl. BusiilEss Alio Themes OF GeiJeraI iNTfiRfsT, PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS Pablisfied eVery Saturday Communications should bo addreaeed t'l C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YopK J, T. LINDSEY, BuBinosa Mfinasi.r Telephone. Cortlandt 3lr)7 "Entered al the Poxt 0#.-fi at New York. JV. T.,as aerond-clasi> matler." Vol. LXXIII. APRIL 23. 1904, rpHERE has been some of the good and some of the bad '*' about the Stock Market during the past week; but on the whole it had the appearance of a market which did not know its own mind. Dominated, as it was, by professional operations. reactions were promptly succeeded by rallies, and the net changes are small. The best news of the week was the continually in¬ creasing ease of money, and the worst news, perhaps, the signs of hesitation, which, according to the trade authorities, the iron and steel business is beginning to show. This was sufficient to cause a fall of several points in Steel preferred; but the news was no news to anybody who had been watching the situation closely. The railroads are not buying to any great extent and will not during the cuiTent year. Nothing more than moderate business is to be expected for the year 1904; and if the Steel Corporation earns its preferred stock dividend it will only by a process of bookkeeping. There are signs, also, of hesitation in other directions, which will be sufficient to keep the market quiet for some time to come. Still the easy money market should gradually have it.s effect, and little by little, the buying should improve. Tn spite of the fact that the total number of sales announced ■*■ during the past week was a good deal over 200, against only 13S for the corresponding week last year, the market gives the impression of being a waiting one. Among the sales was 24 of vacant property, aggregating 102 lots, against 12 of vacant property, aggregating 53 lots, for the corresponding week of last year. This is a substantial increase, but the increase is not as much as is warranted by the circumstances, and if the next two weeks pass without any dangerous labor troubles a good deal of additional activity may be anticipated in this branch of the market. There can be no doubt that the movement is actually beginning, which will end in a Washington Heights boom. Some seven different improvements are already under way in that section—the forerunners of a host. From the points of view both of the Heights and the West Side, the killing of the seven-story semi-fireproof apartment house bill in the Senate was extremely unfortunate; but on the other hand, there is no little vacant property on the Heights, situated on a steep grade, which will be benefited by the bill that did pass, permitting the level from which the number of stories are counted to be six inches above the highest point of the curb level. An encourag¬ ing sign is the increasing activity in private dwellings, some 8 or 9 more of them being sold during the past week than during the corresponding week last year. Among them are several comparatively expensive houses. That so many builders of ex¬ pensive houses have succeeded in disposing of their holdings, in spite of the bad times, is a convincing proof of the vitality of the demand in New York for that class of property. The auc¬ tion market, also, is looking up—a number of important sales being scheduled for the near future. Among them may be men¬ tioned that of a hotel on Sherman Square, an interesting selec¬ tion along the line of the Subway, acquired for easement pur¬ poses, and the valuable Kemp estate holdings near Sth avenue and 50th street. This last is particularly important, for the disposition of this property will determine to a large extent the fate of that part of the avenue. As lor the values, let no one be bold enough to predict. The sale of the Black. Starr &. Frost Building, at 39th street and Sth avenue, for a price of about $1,000,000 seems incredible; but this price is stated on good au¬ thority to be correct. Inside lots on the same block have sold as high as ?2SO,000, while $500,000 has actually been offered for the other corner. Hence, as the building Just sold stood on two lots, a value of $850,000 for the property without the building might have been paid. But $170 a square foot for S.OOO square feet on an avenue which is about as good for business purposes throughout more than a mile of its length, is unprecedented. rri HE extensive buying which the Pennsylvania Railroad Is '^ undertaking in the two blocks between Sixth and Seventh avenues, immediately to the east of its terminus, is nalurally arousing a great deal of curiosity as to what the company even¬ tually proposes to do with the property. Is it buying merely for tho porpose of obtaining elbow-room around its terminus, and in order to diminish liability to damage suits at a later date? Or is it planning, as has been suggested, an outlet to Broadway, similar to the proposed arcade from 33d to 34th streets? Prob¬ ably the immediate purpose of the purchases is merely that of securing the easement for the extensive subterranean works in that neighborhood aa cheap as possible, but at the same time the property secured for this purpose may subse¬ quently be used in some way which will improve the ap¬ pearance of the neighborhood and the accessibility of the tun¬ nel—objects to which the Pennsylvania Railroad cannot be in¬ different. The two block frontages on Seventh avenue, for in¬ stance, if ever sold by the railroad, would undoubtedly only be sold to somebody who would erect a building of some archi¬ tectural pretensions. Furthermore, since 33d street is a narrow street, it might be worth the while of the railroad to increase its width by means of an arcade. Indeed, this is something which ought to be done by the city government, which, after all the railroad is doing voluntarily could afford to widen 33d street and provide some more room on Greeley Square; but our city officials are so much occupied with immediate troubles that they cannot give rauch thought to those even of the comparatively near future. It is significant, however, that the Pennsylvania is pursuing a much more liberal aud far-sighted policy than the New York Central. It is planning for plenty of space in the neighborhood of its terminus, and will not permit itself to be shut in on a narrow street, as its competitor has done. Fur¬ thermore, the accessibility of the terminus and the importance of 34th street and Greeley Square will be very much augmented in case the Rapid Transit Commission accepts, as announced, the subway scheme of the New York City Railway Company. It is interesting to note, particularly for property owners, how these big schemes inevitably grow on the hands of their progen¬ itors, and how vast and incalculable their remote consequences will be. THE residents of Brooklyn are tireless in demanding new favors from the city government. At the iiresent time tho trafiic between Manhattan and Brooklyn is not one-half as dense as the travel north and south in Manhattan, but although Brooklyn travel is less dense, it is being provided for at an enormous cost and on an unprecedented scale. Three new bridges and two new tunnels, increasing by seven times the existing trackage and by more than seven times the passenger capacity, are already under construction, while the much heavier trafflc north and south is only being granted two, or perhaps three, times the existing carrying capacity. Yet Brook¬ lyn now wants another tunnel entering Manhattan at Four¬ teenth Street. It is time to call a stop. Brooklyn has received all that it is entitled to for the present; and it should be content with the completion by means of good connections of projects already under way. If it wants to increase its demands, it should ask not for more tunnels, but the application of urgent methods to urgent problems. The most urgent problem of all is the improvement of the service on the Brooklyn Bridge; and as this can be enormously improved by the rearrangement of the platforms of the Manhattan terminal and the enlargement of the switching facilities, no time should be lost in meeting this pressing need by immediate action along the lines sug¬ gested. The Board of Estimate should appoint an architect who should be commissioned to draw plans of this rearrange¬ ment of the platforms on the basis of Mr. N. Poulson's plan, which is admitted by experts to be entirely practicable. Apart from the improvement in switching capacity, the problem is not an engineering problem. It is one which a well-trained architect is most competent to solve; and it should be placed in the hands of such a man. What Brooklyn most needs should be cordially and immediately given, and that is some transit relief in the near future. But no more tunnels or bridges for a decade or two. IT has been announced, apparently from authoritative sources, that the Plan and Scope Committee of the Rapid Transit Commission proposes to adopt substantially the rapid transit routes suggested by the Metropolitan interest; but tiiat they will be made attractive to the Interborough Company by adding connections with the existing subway at strategic points. This, in the main, is undoubtely the policy which offers the best chance of a good bargain for the city. The opportunity of ob¬ taining a subway operated as part of the street railway system.
