Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 109, no. 12: March 25, 1922

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374 RECORD AND GUIDE March 25, 1922 Saks & Co. Will Erect $4,250,000 Store on Fifth Avenue Projected Structure, From Plans by Starret & Van Vleck, Will Become Notable Addition to City's Famous Shopping District S.A.KS & CO., retail dry goods merchants, have announced their plans for the construc¬ tion of a notable addition to the Fifth Avenue shopping district. This firm has commissioned Star¬ rett & Van Vleck to prepare the designs and specifications for a modern fireproof department store building, eleven stories in height, with basement and sub-basement, which will be erected on the east side of Fifth Avenue, from Forty- ninth Street to Fiftieth Street, at a cost of about $4,250,000 for building and equipment. The plot to be improved was leased by Saks & Co., some time ago from the Kemp Realty Com¬ pany for a period of 105 years. The lease actually calls for a twenty-one year term with four renewals of similar duration and the lessors bind themselves to pay approximately $35,000,000 in rent for the use of this property dur¬ ing the next century. The site of the projected structure involves frontages of 158 feet on Fifth Avenue and of 200 feet and 208 feet in Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets respectively. The avenue frontage takes in the entire block with the exception of the 42-foot plot owned by the Democratic Club and which Saks & Co. have been unable to obtain by cither purchase or lease under favorable terms. The new Saks Building will cover a plot having an area of 400,000 square feet, and in design and construction will be one of the finest structures on the Nation's most famous thorough¬ fare, in addition to being the first large retail department store to seek a permanent location on the avenue north of Forty-sec¬ ond Street. The plans provide for 500 feet of show windows. The facades will be constructed of face brick and limestone and will be divided by four main entrances. Two of these will be located on the Fifth Avenue front, on either side of the Democratic Club, and one each on the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Street sides. Plans for this building call for many improve- Starrett & Van Vleck, Architects. ments making for greater service and convenience to both customers and employees. On the eighth floor there will be rest rooms, silence rooms, a hospital, a restaurant and other features specifically designed for the welfare of the hundreds of workers who will be employed in this store. The setback at the eighth floor, required under the provisions of the Zoning Law, will be utilized as a hanging garden for the employees. Twenty electric elevators will be an important part of the equipment for handling traffic, both passenger and merchan¬ dise, within the building, and experts say this service will be sufificient to move 2,000 persons every five minutes. Real Estate Broker Needs Nerve, Optimism and Enthusiasm (Continued from page 360) seller what is a fair price and should be in a position to know what is a fair price. "There are various ways of getting buyers and tenants. We fol¬ low up the expiration of our own leases and those of other brokers as far as we can. Six months before a lease expires we see the tenant and we try either to renew his lease, or make a new and better lease or sell him the property. This is a fruitful source of dealing. Another source is signs on properties. They work night and day and unlike some brokers they never sleep. Newspapers are valuable mediums. They often attract persons who otherwise would never think of buying. They are campaigners for victory. "It may seem strange to you but we even follow up marriage and death notices in the newspapers. We even follow up proceedings in the divorce courts. Out of the mill of death, marriage and divorce come numerous sales of real property. Real estate is a very personal business so far as private houses are concerned. It is often a business with a social phase. We always see both parties to a marriage. We have gotten so we know family histories pretty well. They have a bearing on the market. We break in our brokers in the canvassing department. There they are sure to learn. "Never fail to treat either buyer, seller or tenant fairly and squarely," said Mr. Elliman in conclusion. "Every customer has friends and tells others of his treatment. The first year we were in business we did none with our own friends, but we did with friends of our friends, who told our friends how we had treated them. Fair treatment is the most satisfactory to everybody."