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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1958: September 23, 1905

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September 23, 1905 RECORD AND GUIDE / Biftnfess Alto Themes of CqfcR^l.JiGERFQ^ PRICE PER YEAR IN - ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Pablisfied every Saturdag Communications should De addreeeed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. New York ^ Toiephone. Cortlandt 8137 "Etdered al the Post Office at New York. N. T.. as second-clasa matter.'' got. Thig money is being frequently re-invested in bouses fur¬ tber north. Throughout the whole of the current year, the de¬ mand, which arises from these conditions, will continue to be Tery large. In Harleni, also, many private dwellings are being torn down in neighborhoods which have become more avail¬ able for tenements; but the people who are dispossessed from this cause do not receive such good prices for their property and probably the great majority of them go subsequently to swell the apartment-house population. On the West Side a similar displacement of private dwellings hy flats would be taking place were It not that so many streets in that part of the city are re¬ stricted to thHt one class of improvement. The existing demand for dwellings is, however, good enough to warrant the increased construction of such buildings; and it is certain that in 1906 more money will be spent upon them than has been spent In hny year since 1902. Copjrleht hy ths Eeal Estata Record acd Boildars' Gulds CompanT. Vol. L?:xvi. SEPTEMBER 23. 1905. No, 195S, IND ax TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section. Pag& Page Cement ...................xxv Law .........................ix Clay Products .............xxiv Machinery ...................v Contractors and Builders., ,vii Metal "Work .................xxi Fireproofing .................li Stone ......................xvi Granite ...................xviii Quick Job Directory.......xxvii Heating '...................xxii Real Estate ..................xl Iron and Steel...............xx "Wood Products ............xxvi "P^ROM the way the market is advancing it looks as if every- ■^ thing was being prepared for another sharp reaction. It is obviously desirable at present that no speculative movement should gain any great headway and call for any large amount of money; but the absence of selling pressure and the ease with which certain railway stocks can be advanced encourages speculators to advance them—in spite of the fact that prices are already very high and money for speculative purposes scarce. The news of the week has done nothing to impair the general strength of the situation. The reported intention of the St, Paul company to build to tht coast does not, even if true, contain any threat to security values, because the traffic which originates in that region is beginning to justify another transcontinental line. The acquisition by the Brie of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, while' it adds nothing to the current value of Erie shares, is an example of profitable railroad consolidation and will in the end largely increase the possibilities of the Erie system. It is probable that this is the flrst of several an¬ nouncements all looking in the direction of improved railroad and industrial organization. The current business year is also likely to be an active and important one in relation to railroad finance. Such financing comes generally somewhere towards the end of a period of business prosperity, and Is de¬ signed for the purpose of enabling the railroad financiers to turn profits into cash. Enormous profits have certainly been made in the last year, by a number of railroads, and some means ■will be found to realize upon them without endangering the existing control of the roads. EXCAVATIONS have been commenced for the combined apartment house and hotel which will be erected hy the Astor estate on the block bounded by 78th and 79th sts, Broad¬ way and West Bnd av. Inasmuch as this will be a twenty story building, occupying a whole block, it will constitute bot!i the largest and the tallest apartment house in New York or for that matter in the world, and in consequence every circum¬ stance connected with the improvement has a certain interest Thus its location on Broadway emphasizes the growing im¬ portance of that thoroughfare in the busuiness economy of the West Side. For years it was neglected except for the erectiou of a few rows of flve story flats. Then came the years in which so many seven story apartment-houses were ere'cted, and in which the recent trade of tho avenue was increasing. Finally, after the seven story tenement was killed by the new-law, flre-proof struc¬ tures began to be erected on Broadway; and hereafter the new buildings will almost all be confined to that kin,d of improve¬ ment. The subway has made it the leading business thorough¬ fare on the West Side, and it will be used for both high-class residential and husiness purposes in a way which is unique in New York. It should be remarked also that this new build¬ ing will be a combination both of apartment house and hotel, which is becoming a populai type cf building.' It will constitute in fact a larger and completer Ansonia, and will offer an enor¬ mous variety of residential accommodation. A building of this kind is even more difficult to plan than a large hotel; but if properly planned it has an even better opportunity of securing a permanently profitable set of tenants. There are not a great many new apartment houses now being erected on the West Side, but those which are being erected will cost a great deal of money. Plans have already been filed this year for four apartment houses, each to be twelve stories high and all to be erected at an aggregate cost of £3.350,000. THE demand for private dwellings continues to be a notice¬ able and satisfactory aspect of the current real estate market. While this demand is stronger on the Bast Side, it 's not confined to that part of the city, but is well distributed throughout the West Side and in Harlem. It is so well dis¬ tributed indeed, that it has not occasioned any considerable speculative demand in any one section; but If it continues the operators will participate in it more largely, and it will have a greater effect upon prices. Moreover, it will probably continue and even incfease—^not because there has been any change of condition respecting the economic availability of private dwell¬ ings compared to flats, but, because it looks as if just for the moment, the demand fo? residences, Irrespective of their loca¬ tion, has overtaken the supply. That demand is unusually large' at present, partly because the average business man is again very prosperous, and partly because the normal demand has been increased by special causes. The conditions are similar to those which caused the Bast Side movement in 1902. Then business men had made a great deal of money aud were ready to lock it up in houses; and in the same year the purchases of the New York Central for terminal purposes, had both dis¬ possessed many owners of private dwellings and provided them with plenty of money wherev/ith to buy new ones. Just at present there is no big railway company to accelerate by Its purchases the demand for private houses; but the increased re¬ quirements of the wholesale and retfiil trades are having the same effect. The owners of residences along the line of 5th av, as far north as 4Gth st, are being displaced by business and are gelling out at higher prices than any which they ever expected to THE current demand for tenements and apartment houses is not confined to any one part of the city, but it is noticeable that Washington Heights'^is forging ahead as the district in which resideutial building is most active. The only section of Manhattan which competes with it is the area east of Central Park, tip to date plans have been filed for 356 tenements to be built on the upper Eas: Side at a cost of $15,816,000, whereas tbe oorreEponding totals for Washington Heights are 296 and ?15,4iJ7,000. it will be seen that while there are about 60 more tenements under construction on the East Side, builders have so far planned to spend the same amount of money in each district. But of late plans for new buildings on Washington Heights have been coming out more rapidly than plans for new buildings on the East Side, There will be over $20,000,000 spent on Washington Heights in 1905 and probably over $30,000,000 in 1906. IT looks as if another pair of tunnels would be built between Manhattan and New Jersey. The announcement is made ihat the New York City Railway Com.pany and the Public Ser¬ vice Corporation of New Jersey have between them agreed to seek a franchise for a new Une of communication under the Hudson River, the Manhattan terminus of which is to be some- wliere in tbe vicinity of Pearl st and Park Row. If the corpora¬ tion which has been organized for the purpose obtains the fran¬ chise and takes advantage of it. New Jersey will be almost as well connected with Manhattan as Long Island will be. There will be three sets of tunrels under the river, one terminating at Greenwich and Cortlandt sts, one terminating at or near Chambers ,^t and Broadway, and one having two terminal sta¬ ticns, one at Greeley sq and one at Astor pl. In this way every Important line of transit across the river will he effectually provided for, and residents of New Jersey who wish to reach tithor the financial, the wholesale, the retail or the amusement districts will be furnished with excellent means of communica¬ tion. ■ The proposed new tunnel filla an obvious and important