Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 94, no. 2419: Articles]: July 25, 1914

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REAL. ESTATE AND k^ BUILDERS NEW YORK, JULY 25, 1914 £il!iiilillliiilH^^^^ illlllilllil1ii!llilllii;i1lllilii!lllll!iillililli iiiiaiii leiiaiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH^^^ WEST SIDE W^ATER FRONT IMPROVEMENTS What the Board of Estimate Hopes to Achieve for the District South of 60th Street—Explained by a Former Borough President. By HON. CYRUS C. MILLER |INi|ii;!ihi;iii ■!!iii::]iiililliiliiiliiliililllillJ^liiiiil!ilM ............ ii!;iiliilll!il!llll!!lilllliilllilililll iiiiii]ifmiyiiliiiiiiiii::|iiiiiii.iiii:iniii:i'i].'ii IS anything more forlorn looking than a deserted hottse in which human be¬ ings have dwelt? This melancholy pic¬ ture is intensified when a whole section of the city is changed from a place of trade, alive with the energy of a busy people, to the lifeless quiet of a deserted village. If anyone will walk through that part of the city, west of Broadway, between Chambers str-jet and 23d street, he will wonder at the number of vacant buildings and the general air of deser¬ tion. The reports of the Tax Department show that within the area mentioned a shrinkage of real estate values amount¬ ing to many millions of dollars has taken place within the past five years. Why is all this? There are some who will say that it is becavise trade has moved away. But why has trade moved away? It may be said it is because rapid transit lines have taken the people to other sec¬ tions and trade has followed. This might be so with the retail trade, but not with the wholesale. There must be some other reason. Like New Blood into a Withered Limb. The conclusion is easy that the main reason is the lack of adequate freight handling facilities for the district. If the tracks of the New York Central Rail¬ road and other roads coming into the city were carried down the West Side, so that a merchant in the district could send his truck load of goods down to the foot of the street, and deliver at a freight-receiving platform without delay, it would have an efifect like bringing new blood into a withered limb, to restore it to its former strength. On account of the agitation against the operation of the New York Central Rail¬ road on grade below 60th street, and the necessity of better freight handling facili¬ ties for the city, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment early in 1910 entered into negotiations with the railroad for the following ends: (1) The discontinuance of the occupa¬ tion of public streets by the railroad tracks at grade. (2) Such municipal improvements as can be effected as part of, or incident to, the proposed changes of location or grade of the railroad tracks. (3) Enlarged and improved railroad facilities for the shippers of the city. These negotiations were divided into two parts, from Spuyten Duyvil to 60th street, and from 60th street south. Neces¬ sarily, in an article so short as this, many details of the plan agreed upon by the railroad company and the committee of the Board of Estimate must be omitted. Advantages Desired. For the district south from 60th street to 30th street the committee endeavored to achieve: (1) The removal of surface operation by the New York Central south of 60th stree;. (2) That the convenience of shippers and of consumers and the needs of the commerce of the port must be served. (3) That free access to and from the waterfront for surface traffic must be preserved. A NUMBER of civic societies, ■**■ including the West Side tax¬ payers' associations, are pressing for a settlement of the problems connected with the Hudson River water-front improvements and for the completion of the plans. The article herewith by a former Bor¬ ough President, who was a member of the Board of Estimate's com¬ mittee on terminals, discusses a section of the proposed plans in an interesting and informing man¬ ner. The section referred to is the lower West Side. Limitations of space prevent consideration of the plans in their entirety. (4) That elasticity of the waterfront must be preserved in such a way as to permit the use of the upland in con¬ nection with the waterfront for the spread inland of waterfront terminal fa¬ cilities in order that the most intensive use thereof may be realized. (5) That as much of the waterfront must be liberated from railroad occupa¬ tion for the ptirpose of marine commerce as is consistent with the efiicient and economical transportation of railroad I'reight. (6) That the appearance of the city wa¬ terfront must be preserved, and the con¬ venience, comfort, and safety of its citi¬ zens safeguarded. A Four-Track Subway. The result of the negotiation was an agreement whereby the committee of the Board of Estimate recommended that the railroad company be permitted to construct, at its own expense, a four- track subway through what is now pri¬ vate property from 59th street to 44th street, the railroad right of way to leave the 60th street yards at the corner of Twelfth avenue and 59th street immedi¬ ately west of the westerly corner of the Interborough's present power-house, to curve thence eastwardly through private property to a point sufficiently distant from the waterfront to permit of the con¬ struction of 1,200 foot piers with appro¬ priate bulkhead * space, to pass south¬ wardly through private property at a grade identical with that of Twelfth avenue as it exists to-day, to a point on the southerly line of 44th street, at which point the railroad right of way will curve back to Twelfth avenue. Between 59th and 44th streets it is proposed that the railroad company construct at its own expense a roof over its entire right of way 100 feet in width which will con¬ stitute the surface of a new Twelfth ave¬ nue or marginal way between 59th and 44th streets. It is further proposed that the railroad company, entirely at its own expense, both as to construction cost and grade damages, change the grade of each side street between 59th and 43d streets to conform to the new grade of the new marginal way as laid out over the roof structure covering the railroad tracks. South of 30th street the agreement was as follows: The company consents to construct, at its own expense, a two-track subway southward from 30th street under the bed of Tenth avenue to --------■ street, thence under the surface of the present Ganse¬ voort Market site to the head of Wash¬ ington street to Canal street; thence under Canal street to Varick street, at which point the subway will enter the company's new and extended St. John's Park yard. The company requests the right to con¬ struct two tracks under the easterly side of Hudson street, from Canal street southward to Beach street, such occu¬ pation by the company, however, to be terminable at the option of the city at any time upon the adoption of plans for a passenger subway in Hudson street. The company further requests the priv¬ ilege of exercising an option to substi¬ tute for the subway through Canal street a continuation of the subway southward under Washington street to Barclay street, such election to be made at or before the final signing of the contracts to carry this settlement into efifect. Option to Purchase. The agreement also provided for an option by the city up to November, 1913. to purchase from the company, at a price to be agreed upon, its perpetual and exclusive franchise for its tracks in the streets and avenues south of 30th street. So that the city, upon the exercise of the option, might construct or cause to be constructed proper and suitable rail fa¬ cilities south of 30th street either to a point opposite St. John's Park or to Bar¬ clay street, including at least two main tracks, with provision for proper con¬ nection with freight stations which the railroad company may acquire or own; and also such industries, warehouses, etc., doing an amount of business which would justify a siding or private track, which facilities shall be open to the use of the New York Central and all other roads upon equal terms. This option reserves to the city the power to extinguish all of the rights of the New York Central Company to its tracks in the streets and avenues south of 30th street, and to establish, if the means can be secured in the interim, a joint terminal freight railroad into which the Central will come as a customer upon terms equal to those offered to all other railroads. Such a railway, it is this com¬ mittee's conviction, can be established only in connection with tunnels or bridge to New Jersey to be constructed simul¬ taneously. Modern Freight Facilities Contemplated. The improvement contemplates a modern railroad with sufficient tracks, terminals, warehouses, switches and other accommodations, from Spuyten Duyvil to Battery Park. It is not to be supposed that such a vast enterprise can be carried through without some valid objections being made to it. The most important one is the opposition of the citizens along Riverside Drive to the open freight yard from 135th street to 155th street. It is proposed to screen this from Riverside Drive by trees, so