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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 27, no. 693: June 25, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol XXVII NEW YOKK, SATCEDAY. JUNE 25, 18«1 No t)93 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, I3T Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. The building furore shows' no signs of abatement. On the contrary, our lists of new buildings and mort'i^ages show that new building firms are entering the field, and there is every indication that large quantities of liouses are being put up on speculation. There has been no such building, as is now going on, within the memory of the oldest real estate operator. All kinds of liouses are being projected. Tiie greatest opera house known to tbis continent is one, while im¬ mense buildings, for offices, stores, ware¬ houses, as well as great apartment flats, are under way. There is no danger of building being overdone in this city for many years to come. The additions to our trade are very great, and everything tends to swell the population of the metropolis. Of course, the time will come when speculative build¬ ers will be pinched, but there are no signs of any catastrophies of this kind, either this vear or next. Dwight n. Olmstead is of opinion that some day a tunnel, or rather an open cut, will be built from the foov of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and North River, down to Fifty-seventh street, so as to supply steam travel on a surface road to those who live on the West Side. The elevated road runs too near the Oentral Park, and people who li7e midway between the Park and the river, or near the river, will want swift travel down town. Of course at One Hun¬ dred and Twenty-fifth street the open cut would connect with the Hudson River road. Mr. Olmstead is also of opinion that the Hud¬ son River road on the West Side will yet play an important part in supplying rapid transit for up-town people. He thinks some¬ thing shoukl be done to unite the elevated system with the Hudson River road at Thir¬ tieth street. There is no mistake about it, that building has commenced on the West Side. Two apartment houses are projected at the lower part of the Grand Boulevard, and some ten other enterprises are under way, which will involve buildings west of the Centi-al Park. Crowds of workmen are employed at Mr. Clark's magnificent apartment house, and the first story will soon be under way. Two years' time will make a marvellous change. Both builders and buyers will naturally pre¬ fer houses built on $6,000 and $8,000 lots, to those for which $18,000 and $20,000 are asked. West Side property is still very, very cheap. ^»> The act of the Legislature, defining the erm "land," when used in a legal way, is very sweeping. It includes soil under as well as above Avater, all substmctures and superstructures erected thereon, all wharves and piers, all telegraph lines, all surface, un¬ derground or elevated railroads, all mines and quarries. "Real estate" and "real property " has the same meaning as "land." It is evident the State is determined to widen as far as possible the fiehJ of her ta-^ation. WHY A NEW RAPID TRANSIT COM¬ MISSION ? Mayor Grace was formally petiticmed to appoint a nevv rapid transit commission for the annexed district. He did not want to do so, but he supposed that the law was mandatory, and that he could not help him¬ self. There is real danger that a new com¬ mission may so tangle matters up as to pre¬ vent any rapid transit in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards. In other words, it is feared that what has occurred in Brook¬ lyn may happen agiin in the annexed dis¬ trict, and several new companies be organ¬ ized, one to interfere with the other. The facts with regard to rapid transit in the an¬ nexed district are as follows : Some years since the engineers of the Central Park Commission made a survey of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, and laid out the route for three railroads, all of wliich would converge at the Second Avenue bridge. These three roads would fairly accommodate all parts of the annexed district. The first rapid transit commission that was appointed had a careful scientific survey of the district made, and their en¬ gineers agreed with those of the Central Park Commission as to the necessity for three parallel roads, converging at th" Sec¬ ond avenue, but having an outlet also to the sunken track of the Harlem road. The Jeromes and others who had their personal axes to grind, raised a clamor about the ac¬ tion of the suburban rapid transit commis¬ sion, and the second commission was ap¬ pointed by Mayor Cooper. This commission, after another careful investigation, endorsed the plan of the Central Park Commission engineers and the engineers of the flrst com¬ mission. A company was finally organized to build the roads decided upon by the three sets of engineers, as being the best and most practicable. But, of course, certain powerful local in¬ fluences wotild not be satisfied with any plan. People who live within ten minutes walk of the Second and Third avenue bridges, are opposed to any suburban rapid transit routes. Then, the property holders on Third avenue, at the other side of the Harlem, want only one road to run upon that avenue, so as to benefit a small section of the district at the expense of the proposed improvements east, west and north. But the stockholders of the suburban rapid tran¬ sit company object. They say the whole district must be considered, and not the now populous part of it. Third avenue, above the Harlem River, is only 80 feet wide, with 15 feet of sidewalk, aud the storekeepers who reside upon it would not patronize an elevated road. It would be absurd to sacri¬ fice the whole district for the benefit of a very few property holders in the central or lower portion of it. According to the last census, the total population of the Twenty-third and Twenty- fourtii wards was 43,300. Nearly 30,000 of these lived below One Hundred and Seven¬ tieth street and near the line of the Harlem road. It follows that a system of rapid transit roads, to become profitable, must help to create the conditions that will invite a large population. The present inhaintants of the annexed district used the Porchester, the Harlem, the New York and North rn and the Hudson River road, as well as the horse cars. To make the Surburban roads pay in addition, the population must at least be quadrupled. The majority of the new commissioners appointed by Mayor Grace, are reputable gentlemen. They in all probability will en¬ dorse what has been done by their prede¬ cessor?. The preliminary work of the Su- bu'ban rapid transit company is about com¬ pleted, and tliey will soon be ready to com¬ mence actual road building. They believe the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards all, save the West Side, are the predestined home of the working classes of New York. They think the toilers will find cheap and wholesome homes upon the routes of their proposed rapid transit lines. They are un¬ derstood t) be desirous also of securing some assurance of rapid transit on New York Is¬ land. Forty-one minutes -from the South Ferry to the Harlem River, is the schedule time on the Third avenue elevated road, but forty-five minutes is the real time. Matters must be so adjusted, that any part of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards will be within half an hour of Chatham Square. This is a sine qua non. It is believed that the elevated road people are willing to run a through train on the Second avenue road, which will reach down town in twenty minutes from the Harlem River. The friends of tiie officers of the Suburban com¬ pany say, that if they are not interfered with, all the roads will be completed within two years' time. THE SITUATION ON THE STREET. There seems to be an impression that there will be a reasonably strong marltet in stocks, between now and the 3d of July. On the first of the new fiscal year, large sums of money are to be paid out by the Govern¬ ment and by the various dividend paying corporations. This money belongs to people who are natural investors, and who are not likely to keep it idle. It is not considered pi-obable that the great operators will make stocks cheap for the benefit of this class of investors; it is far more liiiely that prices will be advanced, so as to encourage these owners of unemployed money to invest it and then rates will be easv, the price of in¬ terest low, and there will not seem to be much object in keeping money unemployed.