Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 95, no. 2451: Articles]: March 6, 1915

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REAL ESTATE AND NEW YORK, MARCH 6, 1915 llllllPllllPPiiiiiBm ■1 iilUiiiilllH^^^^^^ iiiillliliilllH^^^ WHERE THE NEXT LAND BOOM WILL START The Fourth Avenue and Sea Beach Divisions of the Dual Subway System to be in Operation July First—A Big Building Movement to Follow ^lililillillliililiH^^^^^^^^^^ iiiillliliiii ■"PIIE cily is on tho edge of another * speculative movement in real estate, one which will have a definite point of origin and will receive fresh acceleration from time to time from other quarters during- a period of years. The movement will follow from the opening of a new subway traffic system, just as the previous movement resulted from the operation of the first subway lines. Within a few months, probably some time during the month of July, trains will be running from City Hall to Coney Island through the Fourth avenue tube and over the new Sea Beach division. For a number of years the real estate market has been waiting for a fresh im¬ pulse. Here is one coming. The pre¬ diction is made on the basis of a mar¬ ket's past experience. Every forward leap it has taken in the last half century has resulted from the opening up of fresh territory to de- delopment b y n e w lines of transit. The original subway lines srave us a new East Bronx, a new Morningside Heights and a new Wash¬ ington Heights. The first results from the new Dual Sys¬ tem vsill be a new Bav Ridge and a greatly improved Fourth avenue s e c - tion in Brooklyn. The Sea Beach di¬ vision is ninety-nine per cent, completed. A splendid f o u r - track high - speed electric railroad, de¬ pressed below the surface on a stone- balasted roadbed be¬ tween retaining walls of concrete masonry, I t intercepts both the Fourth avenue subway and the Fifth avenue elevated, and is being built by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, Station platforms are at Eighth avenue, Fort Hamilton avenue, New Utrecht avenue, Eighteenth avenue, Twentieth avenue, Twenty-second avenue, Kings Highway, Avenue U and 86th street. Last week tlie Public Service Commis¬ sion approved of the proposed award of the construction of nine station buildings to Post & McCord (Inc.) for $331,163, The Fourth avenue division has been seven years under construction, and from Manhattan Bridge to 43d street, it is 100 per cent, completed. The exten¬ sion from 43d street to 61st street, which has been under construction since October, 1912, is officially 84 per cent, completed. At the^ office of the Public Service Commission this week it was said that the expectation is that trains from the Sea Beach division will be running through the Fourth avenue - tunnel to Manhattan Bridge and City Hall on or about July 1. This is the first time that the officials have been willing to set a date for this event. As soon as Spring opens the first signs of the big specula¬ tion should be discerned—auction sales of lots and purchases of larp-e blocks of lots by builders. Owing to atrocious traffic accommoda¬ tions in the section to be served by the Sea Beach division, there has been, in anticipation of the opening of the road, less immigration than there otherwise would have been, and not a few tenants have left the district. Tracts along the line are still being farmed, and for all practical purposes it is still in part an undeveloped territory from the point of view of the city builder. "A year ago there was scarcely a high-class real estate broker in Manhat¬ tan who could be induced to even give consideration to any part of Brooklyn as SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION—THE "BOARD WALK" IN TIMES SQUARE a field for operations." says William E. case comes from Harmon. "Within the past month, not less than three or four have asked us for advice concerning the Sea Beach line, values, etc., and now, to my mind, all these things point to one clear conclu¬ sion, and that is either before, or imme¬ diately following the opening of the Sea Beach subway, all the cheap land along this subway will be picked, and picked up by men who understand how to cre- ate^ a big public interest in things in which they have secured a prior inter¬ est. "The^ significance of this little center of activity to the whole Borough of Brooklyn is very clear, when we appre¬ ciate that, step by step, new lines of transportation will be completed. Each to be accompanied by a like upward movement, and renewed real estate ac¬ tivity. Like a snow ball, this will gain size, so that at the time of the comple¬ tion of the subway programme, the whole Borough of Brooklyn (except probably that section lying north of At¬ lantic avenue and west of Clinton ave¬ nue), will enjoy a period of real estate prosperity such as we have never be¬ fore witnessed," Local brokers and operators say that the Sea Beach section would have been in a more advanced state but for the poor transit facilities. With high-speed express trains running from Kings Highway to City Hall in twenty-five minutes, there is bound to be a great accession of population as soon as homes are provided. Disappointment over the long delay in furnishing the Fourth avenue line has also had a dis¬ couraging effect on builders. The new development will consist mainly of private dwellings at first, it is said, but with stores and tenements near the stations. Lots for improvement with dwellings are quoted at $1,200 on the average at present, which is a price that offers a very fair opportunity for homeseekers. The participation of the Fourth ave- n u e section in the e X p e c t ed building movement will be of a different nature. The section is f o r the most part i m - proved, and during a 11 the years since the construction o f the u n d e r g r ound road was legally authorized, the bene¬ fits to be derived have been to some deg rce anticipated. It will be a varied development, with larger units than the Sea Beach op- e r a t o r s will deal with, and it will be a slower move¬ ment. The most uncer¬ tain element in the the fact that there will be other rapid transit lines opened later on and that other new sections of the city will then share in the de¬ velopment. For that reason no one should expect to see repeated in the Bay Ridge, Sea Beach and Fourth ave¬ nue sections of Brooklyn the same amount of speculation and as rapid con¬ struction as followed the opening of the first Manhattan and Bronx subway divisions. While it will be, at the start, a more moderate movement, it will be one which will be lasting, and as new rapid transit lines are opened next year in Queens' and the year after in Manhattan and the Bronx and other parts of Brooklyn it will spread all over the city in time. The Sea Beach movement will therefore simply be the beginning of srreater things. The alien labor troubles were suddenly terminated this week by the injunction granted by the U. S. Supreme Court,