Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 70, no. 1795: August 9, 1902

Text version:

Auglls^9, I90-2. RECORD AND GUIDE. 19s .DthitD p Ryj.Estate.BmLDiife *;fi&t(nECTUM.t{ou3QtoiDteQanHiDil. BumiIess Ai^TuEUES Of GEitogJ. iKrcit^i FRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS PabllsHed eVerp Saturdag Communloatlons should be addresaad to C. W. SWEET. 14-16 Vcaey Street, New YorK g, 1. UNDSET. BusIneaB HanagOP Telflpbona, Cortlandt 3107 "Entere ' t Ue Pos Ofic at JVeio Yorl Jf. T., aa second- la s mailer." Vol. LXX. AUGUST 9, 1902. No. 1795. IP there is to be further activity iu the Stock Market, as there apparently is, it seems almost necessary that speculation should spread into the Industrials. Indeed, there were signs this week that a move in that direction is being undertaken because there was life in a number of issues belonging to this class which have long lain dormant. With few exceptions railroad stocks are high enough in all conscience and it stands to reason that the prosperity that has given Railroads their preference in the eyes of both investors and speculators must have affected the Industrials also. The reasons why the latter have been regarded askance are that as a rule so little is known of them and that there is a feeling that they have yet to feel the effects of adverse judicial opinions as to the legality of combinations, and, prob¬ ably, of some disciplinary legislation. These, however, are mere¬ ly surmises or suspicions and at best cannot be determined for some time. Meanwhile if speculation is to be kept going new material has to be found, and this can be done in the Industrial list. We are told that the market is dominated by Western methods, and that those who would take part in it must take this fact into account. This seems to be the case. Then what more reasonable to believe than that the powers that put corn above ninety cents in the face of prospects for a record crop, will, having exhausted that and the railroad security field, take hold of the Industrials, and, in the language of the Street, "give them a whirl"? Among the sober facts of the situation are those that money is in good demand for the time of the year, the position of exchange is uncertain, aud that investment houses, who have large amounts of municipal and other securities on hand char¬ acterize business as phenomenally dull. A FAIR increase in the production of the Rand was reported for July, the return being of 25,000 ozs. against 19,000 in June, so it appears as if the labor difficulty which is the only thing standing in the way of a general resumption of mining ac¬ tivity is in process of solution. Loudon has lost gold heavily and may draw on New York again, though the metal itself may go directly to the Continent to settle London's adverse balances, A new government issue to meet a 575,000,000 deficiency is prob¬ able for the fall, and this has depressed consols, which are again, as they were just prior to the issue of last spring, good purchases on the decline. Money is in good demand, and Felix Schuster, Governor of the Union Bank of London, an authority of the highest credit, said recently: "As to the course of the money market during this year, it is only possible to say that indica¬ tions seem to point to a continuance of steady rates, and that very great ease is hardly in sight. Many of the recent public loans have yet to be paid for, many new ones are impending; on the Continent and in the United States the demand for money seems to be reviving, and any falling away in our rates might easily lead to gold exports, whilst South Africa herself may make large demands on the resources of our market, which will more than counterbalance the increased supply of gold from that quar¬ ter. We expect, therefore, to find ample employment for our funds, and should look forward, unless we are much mistaken, to a fairly profitable banking half-year." Among the news items of the week is one that may find interest among our readers, it is that a stubborn strike in the building trades of Hamburg and adjacent cities, which lasted about two months, has ended in the complete victory of the employers. It had been agreed two years ago between the masters and the masons and carpenters that wages should be advanced by a certain amount in the spring of 1902, if no reversal of the business situation should mean¬ while have intervened. When the time came to redeem this conditional promise, the employers took the position that the situation did not admit of an advance. Then the men inaug¬ urated strikes in several instances in order to force the advance gradually, dealing with employers separately. When the latter saw through this policy, they shut down all building operations in the four cities. After a bitter struggle the men are returning to work at the old rate of wages. The Real Estate Situation. ^r HE dull season appears to benefit the small properties in ■^ the upper section of the city. For the second time within a month practically all of the transactions reported are above 59th street They are, however, the usual run of flats and tene¬ ments, and are of very little significance. There has, however, been closed a sale of an important apartment hotel, and one of the most successful in the city, the details of which will be made public next week. The buyer is an investor; the seller, making one of the conditions of sale, that he be given a long lease of the property, which he has been running ever since it was com¬ pleted. What will doubtless become an important feature of the real estate situation in the near future is the revival ot plans for improving important thoroughfares in what are fast he- coming parts of the business portion of Manhattan, which have been allowed to sleep for some time. One of these has been brought forward this week by interested parties. This is tbe extension of Le.xington avenue, through Grammercy Park, taking in Irving place and then running through private property from 14th street to Sth street to join the improvement that is to be made on 4th avenue, between 8th and 10th streets, in connec¬ tion with the Rapid Transit railroad. By this another continu¬ ous north and south thoroughfare between the Harlem River and the City Hall would be produced. The scheme has merit, but it is not so necessary or important as another dormant un¬ dertaking, the extension of 6th and Tth avenues to Canal street, the necessity of which has been admitted for years, and now, by reason of the location of the Pennsylvania Railroad's depot on Tth avenue, becomes viUl. As a matter of fact, as we have been, continually urging for some time, the city must take up in a systematic and comprehensive way the remodeling, so far as money and circumstances will permit, the lay-out of Manhattan with the view of facilitating transit and travel for horse, fout and motor and providing more of those conspicuous build¬ ing sites, the want of which, as we pointed out in our last issue, has arisen by reason of the demand for larger and larger forms of improvement. This demand grows out of the rapid but natural growth of business undertakings even when the process of consolidation is not applied, and it must have a ten¬ dency to improve realty values in places where no improvement has yet been seen. This idea carried to its conclusion is, that there should be opportunities for profitable operations in real estate in or near those pockets, into which some of our gii.at thoroughfares run. As will be seen on another page of this issue, two new post¬ offlce sites have been offered to the Government this week, mak¬ ing a baker's dozen in all that the Commission of selection have now before them. It is needless to say that the suitable ones are few. The two latest, the Grand Central Building and the Hewitt plot on Lexington aveuue, like the Women's Hospital site, have not the attractiveness they would have had before the Pennsylvania Railroad Company decided to establish their ter¬ minal on Manhattan Island. Before that event it was naturally- thought that contiguity to the Grand Central Depot was an ab¬ solute essential, because that was the only trunk line railroad on the island. By the time the new post-office building can be erected, indeed long before considering the pace at which Uu:Ie Sam ordinarily makes his improvements, not only will there be a second trunk line established here, but one that will offer more avenues of dispersion for mail matter than the first. It W'U of course, be the duty of the authorities to untilize both as much as possible, and it would not. therefore, be surprising if their choice of a site was on the line of the rapid transit railroad at a point that would give it ready access to both the Grand Central and the Pennsylvania depots. This is presuming, of course, that the Federal Government is strong enough to resist the objections that our wonderful Board of Aldermen may be relied upon to raise against the use of the underground railroads for anything hut passenger travel. ■^ OR the solution of the Brooklyn Bridge problem, means have ^ to be found to pass the crowds along to destination without requiring them to break their journey at the bridge's entranceB; ' Because of this, moving causeways and like suggestions are un- ' acceptable. Any devise that would pass the crowds faster over' the bridge to deposit them at the entrances would only propor¬ tionately increase the evil It was proposed to cure. The com-'" mission of engineering experts recognized this difficulty and' proposed to remove it by meahs of elevated railroads, but thia '