Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 88, no. 2272: September 30, 1911

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mi.^mmm Vol. LXXXVIII SEPTEMBER 30, 1911 No. 2272 REAL ESTATE IN THE GRAND CENTRAL SECTION. A Terminal With an Unusual Influence,—The Enlarged Gr\n'id Central Will Increase Values on all Sides, Instead of in One or Two Directions Only. THE most potent presentday factors in the comniercial upbuilding of any community are the establishment of ade- ciuate transiiorlation lines and the -con¬ struction of railroad terminals sufRcient lo handle the attendant travel without un¬ due congestion or loss of time. The first benefit which results to the community from construction of this nature is an increase in the value of real estate ad¬ jacent to the terminals. This enhancement is nearly always in direct proportion to the increase in travel in the streets leading to the station and is the result of the increased earning power of the iand by virtue of tlie added travel. Consequently, the thoroughfare on ^vliich a railroad terminal fronts and on which it has its main entrance is most affected, while the streets where the side entrances ar^ placed are beneflted, butto a lesser degree. On the contrary, prop¬ erty in the rear of a metropolitan raii?/ay terminal or along the sides of the train yards, not only does not receive a beneflt planning of the road's officials and their endeavor to furnish not only a railway station, but a civic center, a theatre as it were, for the staging of big commer¬ cial effects. The station proper will oc¬ cupy practically the same frontage on ■i2d street as did the building which it will replace and will extend back as far as 45th street. There will be a raised roadway on the front and on two sides, with entrances on Vanderbilt avenue and Depew place. The rear of the structure, while not architecturally as handsome as the front, will, nevertheless, be finished in a style equal to that employed on the ex¬ teriors of most ot our substantial busi¬ ness buildings. 01 course, this arrangement must of necessity benefit 4'2d street, Lexington avenue, opposite the station, and Vander¬ bilt avenue, and these streets will e.K- perience a steady increase in land values, proportionate to the constantly increasing travel. West of the station. 45th street will see an even greater increase in pro- become the best location on the upper East Side for the building of apartment houses of the highest type, and the build¬ ing projects which have been carried out there have been among the best in the entire city. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, a similar improvement will take, place below 56lh street when the new ter¬ minal is completed. As has been stated before, the station proper will reach to 45th street and this street is being carried through from Lex¬ ington to Madison avenue with only a slight grade. The railroad owns all the property as far north as SOth street, be¬ tween Madison and Lexington avenues, and above this the property is held in in¬ dividual ownerships. The original plans for the terminal included the roofing-over of all the company owned property and the shedding of Park avenue, in a fash¬ ion similar to that above oGth street. The plans have been recently modifled. In response to a strong protest from Park avenue property owners, the oflicials of - liiilii "^i^s&^m^Mi^"' .IJ'T^ Mil THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION, SHOWING THE RAISED ROADWAY AND THE BRIDGE OVER J2D STREET. hut as a rule suffers a depreciation. This is due to the "fact that there is less traffic on these streets, thereby rendering them unsuitable for stores, and tliat tlie noise and unsightly surroundings of an open cut make the adjacent property less de¬ sirable for residential purposes. An excellent illustration of the fore¬ going general proposition can be found at the new terminal of the Pennsylvania. The main entrance is on Seventh avenue and a lesser one in 34th street. Property on Seventh avenue, in •52d street, which leads directly away from the station, and in 34th street, east of the entrance, has materially increased in value, owing to the increased travel to and from the sta¬ tion which, in the main, is by way of these streets. To a lesser extent .S4th street property west of the entrance has derived a benefit, but the owners of prop¬ erty on Eighth avenue and in Slst street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, have received only a fancied increase in their holdings, while the property taken by the railroad for trackage has no value other than for transportation purposes. The new terminal of the New York Cen¬ tra! furnishes a unique exception to the general rule. In the first place, the great¬ est increase in surrounding land values will undoubtedly be found to the rear of the station, and secondly, the land uti¬ lized for a train yard will still be avail¬ able for building and will afford a source of revenue independent of that received from transportation. These conditions will be due entirely to the comprehensive portion to the present values. This is the first through crosstown street above 423 street, and as the station is so planned that all incoming passengers will reach the street on the Vanderbilt avenue side, much of the travel to Broadway and Fifth avenue will naturally be diverted to 45th street. The greatest transformation, however, will be apparent on Park ave¬ nue, and it is there that the biggest im¬ provements will take place and the largest value increases be noted, THE NEW PARK AVENUE. From 45th to 56th street, this thorough¬ fare has been an open cut for the last half century, and the noise and dirt from the road, especially in the old days, of steam-hauled trains, effectually prevented a material improvement. North of 56th street, the avenue has been covered over, with the exception of a number of ven¬ tilating openings in the center of the street, which were made more or less_un- objectionable by parlting. South of ;>6th street, not a single good buikling has ex¬ isted, both sides of the avenue having been given over to factories, breweries and cheap tenements. Above the point, where the tunnel roofing begins, the change is at once apparent. Private dwellings of a good class and tall apart¬ ment houses are to be found, while land values are strong and are steadily in¬ creasing. Indeed, in the last few years. Park avenue, north of 56th street, has the road gave deflnite assurance to the Board of Estimate, at its last meeting, that the avenue would be entirely roofed over from 4oth to 56th street and that openings similar to those farther north would not be employed. This will mean that no sight or sound of trains can be had from the street at any point within the limits of the terminal. On the roof of the train yards, the road has already constructed several buildings on the Lex¬ ington avenue side and wili build others as needed along Park avenue. The road will retain the ownership of the prop¬ erty but will, it is expected, lease the air rights with the necessary foundation privileges, to operators or investors for improvement with tall structures. Owing to the unsettled conditon^.of Park avenue, the property which is unUer pri¬ vate ownership between ~5Dth and SGth street is in a very transitory condition and is highly speculative. As a result, it is e-.-tremely difficult.tO determine present values. Not mucli ' property is on the market for sale, and the average ap¬ praiser would hesitate, or utterly refuse, to place a value on it. The city, for as¬ sessment purposes, values most the east side at $1,000 a foot, w^hile the west side Is taxed on the basis of $1,400 a foot. One block front, which contains about fifteen lots, could be purchased at the rate of a tr-fie over SKjD.OOO a lot, but on account of the uncertainty as to when the improvement will be completed and the consequently high carrying charges, none but the largest operators care to invest.