Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 82, no. 2107: August 1, 1908

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August I, 1908 RECORD AND GUIDE 221 EST^^USHED-^ tt^BpHSV^S 1868. Dev6-[iD to Reji^lEstate.Bihldij/g ^R.cifiTEeTURE,KousE«oLDDEQCB^TBtl. Bi/sii/ess Af/n Themes ofGei^r.aI lr/TEi\Esi. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications should he addressed to C. W. SWEET Pablis/jed EVery Saturday By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE Vice-Pres. & Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER Nos. 11 to 15 East 24th Street, ft'ew York City (Telephone. Madison Square. 4430 to 4433.) "Entered at the Post Office at New York N. y.. ns srconil-cJass matter." Copyrighted. 190S, by The Record & Guide Co. Vol. LXXXIL AUGUST 1, aoos.' No. 2107 IF the Allied Real Estate Interests, under the leadership of Mr. Robinson succeeds in constituting an efficient organization of the various local taxpayers' associations, it will have accomplished a very useful and a very difficult last. Nothing Is more needed than an association of New York property-owners whose membei-ship and resources are considerable, to represent every section of the city, and which will be in a position to exercise an eifective influence both at tht. City Hall and in Albany. Many attempts have been made to form such an association, but since the de¬ cease of the old Real Estate Exchange they have all failed. Dui-ing the interval the Allied Real Estate Interests have been much the most influential and useful organization of prop¬ erty-owners, but it needs a larger following and more abund¬ ant resources. It remains to be seen whether the able management characteristic of the association hitheito will succeed in a task which has so frequently failed of achieve¬ ment. Tbe great impediment to an effective organization has usually been the nature aud objects of the local asso¬ ciations. They have been organized, as a rule, exclusively for the purpose of promoting local interests, and their mem¬ bers have refused to occupy themselves with the general interests which they share with other property-owners as taxpayers. Perhaps, however, the danger of a severe in¬ crease of their burdens, which is now hanging over the property-owners of the city may induce them to unite upon some common policy and to form an effective association in order to carry it out. It is certainly very much to be hoped that such will be the case. 'T*HE people of New York are to be congratulated upon ■■■ the prospect that Mr. Hughes will remain their Gov¬ ernor for another two years. His announcement that, de¬ spite the necessary sacrifice of his personal interests, he is willing to accept another term, has been received with such general approval that he can scarcely fail to be both nom¬ inated and elected. Bitterly as the Republican machine is opposed to Mr. Hughes, it will scarcely dare to fight his selection to a finish, particularly at a time when any local quarrels might compromise the success of the national ticket; and the regular Republican organization will be placed in the unpleasant position of aiding the election of its bitter¬ est enemy. The reason why Mr. Hughes' continued pres¬ ence in the Executive Mansion at Albany is so necessary hangs chiefly on the fact that the power of the old machine has not been broken. It has been severely injured by Mr. Hughes' measures of reform, but a complaisant Governor could undo a large part of what Mr. Hughes has accom¬ plished. At the end of another two years, Mr. Hughes will not only have consolidated the work he has already accom¬ plished, but he will have still further undermined the power of the machine at Albany. Such a result, when accom¬ plished, will be of particular benefit to New York City, be¬ cause New York has suffered peculiarly from the former methods of the Republican machine. The Legislature has always refused the City any effective control over its own affairs. It has interfered constantly in matters of exclus¬ ively local importance, and it will not surrender the right to such interference, unless it is forced to do so. Now the revised charter, which will be submitted to the Legislature at its next session grants to the city a wholly unprecedented amount of home rule, and it would not, under ordinary con¬ ditions have the ghost of a chance with the Legislature. Mr. Hughes is the only man who could by any possibility induce the Legislature to pass the proposed chai-ter without greiv- ous mutilation. Of course, even his infiuence may not be suthcient, but if he shou'ld be re-elected by a very large majority, he can hardly fail to have his way in all essential matters, and he has from the start attached great importance to the revision of tbe local charter. He insisted' on the appointment of the present commission, and there is every reason to believe that he will use his infiuence most ener¬ getically in favor of the instrument which the commission is preparing. ^^OME time ago the Record and Guide in discussing the ^--^ probable nature of any revival of real estate specula¬ tive activity ventured to predict that the locality in which such a revival could be expected was the so-called Pennsyl¬ vania district. No doubt prices throughout that district are already being maintained on a level above that which is warranted by its existing earning power, but it remains none the less true that there is room for a still further advance, particularly on the margin of the district. This neighbor¬ hood is the only part of Manhattan that will be very much benefited by the transit changes of the next few years, and the Record and Guide gave certain salient reasons for be¬ lieving that the effect of these changes has been under rather than over-estimated. We are glad to notice that the real estate department of the "Sun," which is one of the most intelligently conducted in New York City, lends the weight of its authority to the same prediction. It infers from re¬ cent reports that vigorous speculative buying is already developing in two distinct neighborhoods^—the mid-town mercantile section, and the apartment house district on the upper West Side, including especially Morningside and Washington Heights. Activity in these neighborhoods is reaching important dimensions, and is justified by existing conditions. Elevator apartment houses are one of the few classes of improvement which were not over-produced during 1905-6-7, and there is room for more buildings of this kind. The renewed.activity in the mid-town mercantile section is also, in tbe opinion of the "Sun," suggested by sound rea¬ sons. The section in question is defined as extending from Twenty-third to Forty-second Streets, and from Fourth to Eighth Avenues, Until recently, the majority of the new buildings erected in this vicinity were situated on the thor¬ oughfares running north and south—particularly Broadway and Fifth Avenue. At present, however, most of the activity is taking place in the side streets, the theory being that the heavy cross-town travel, expected from the opening of the Pennsylvania, McAdoo and Belmont tunnels, will arrest the traditional migrations of trade toward the north and mal