Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 89, no. 2290]: February 3, 1912

Text version:

y FEBRUARY 3, 1912 A $20,000,000 INDUSTRIAL COLONY FOR THE BRONX. Planned by the Ryawa Realty Co. at the Mouth of the Bronx River—Piers for Deep Sea Craft and Warehouses and Factories to Be Built^—^ Dredges at Work. NOT long ago the Record and Guide printed a news item to the effect that a freight terminal and industrial col¬ ony was about to be built in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Details of the project Tvere not obtainable at the time. It is learned now from an authen¬ tic source that the preliminary work has already been started and that the proj- .ect, which will involve a heavy invest¬ ment of capital, is backed by some of the shrewdest and wealthiest men of affairs in this town. The project, as a matter- of fact, was decided upon at least three years ago. It is an undertaking of the Ryawa Realty Company which was incorporated in 190!.). -The corporation directories are anything but voluble concerning the compajiy. One of them, for example, has this to say: "Ryawa Realty Co., inc., 2-4-0; cap. $1,000; Frederick Johnson, treasurer; ■owns property in the Bronx." The prop- -erty, it turns out, is a great tract of •waterfront at the mouth of the Bronx River and on the development of this land, it is said, Mr. Johnson and his asso¬ ciates propose to spend from fifteen to -twenty millions of dollars. The project involves the straightening out of the entrances to the Bronx River and the construction ot giant piers for vessels of the largest sine. Behind the piers will rise groups of warehouses and factory buildings of fireproof construc¬ tion, equipped with every fiacility for eco¬ nomic production and distribution. The steam dredges of the company have for some time been at w'ork testing the river bottom with a view to its deepening. Any one who read the article in the Record and Guide for Jan. 20 describing the contemplated Federal, State and mu¬ nicipal waterway improvements in the Bronx will understand the advantages in¬ herent in the site chosen by the Ryawa Reaity Company for its industrial colony. The United States engineers, after an ex¬ haustive examination have just reported to Congress in favor of the proposed At¬ lantic Deeper "Waterway, aji inside route from Boston to Florida, which includes the Bronx Kills and the Harlem River. The Atlantic Deeper Waterway, which avoids the dangerous navigation of Hell Gate and the traffic congestion at the Battery, will be the natural route for a numerous fleet ot coastwise craft. With respect to railway facilities the site will be equally well provided. The New Tork Connecting Railway will pres¬ ently make the Bronx accessib'.e to most of the railways of the continent without the use of lighterage and, besides, the New York, N'^w Haven and Hartford Railroad is planiiiing to run a belt line freight road along the margin of the 'Hunts Point peninsula. It has always been a difficult matter to keep track of tlie industrial develop¬ ment of the Bronx, as until the Federal industrial census of 1909 was published no statistics .of manufactures separate from those of Manhattan were available, 'the Bronx and Manhattan forming one county. However, the industrial growth of the Bronx appears to have been slow, compared with its growth in population. .The waterfront of the Bronx is much farther away from the business section 'of Manhattan than is that of Brooklyn. The cost of cartage has militated against the Bronx as a site for most forms of light manufacturing, but the co-operative distribution -of goods which has proved so successful at the Bush Terminal in .South Brooklyn shows how the difficul- .-ties connected with cartage may be over¬ come. The waterfront adjacent to lower Manhattan is now fully occupied and the time has come when that of the Bronx must come into use- With modern ar¬ rangements for cartage to the Manhattan wholesale and retail stores and with the neiv railway and waterway facilities that are being provided the Bronx should make rapid 'progress as an industrial centre. - With a view to learning what the ex¬ pectations of weIl-inJorui,ed' men are in this respect, the Record and Guide has invited an expression of opinion from such authorities as L. S. Miller, of the New York, Westchester and Boston Rail¬ way Company; W. R. Messenger, of the Bronx Industrial Bureau; Robert B. Si¬ mon, of the Henry Morgenthau Company, and Austin L. Babcock, of the American Rea! Estate Company. Mr. Simon's very interesting statement reads: "'The Bronx, as a manufacturing centre, is destined to become the most important of the four outlying boroughs of the greater city. One need but study the map and couple its unusual water¬ front and tributary rivers and its rail¬ road facilities with the fact that the Bronx is the only one of the five bor¬ oughs which is connected with the main¬ land to .fully realize its strategic advan¬ tages commercially. "Taking the waterfront facilities first and beginning on .the west, there is tlie valuable Hudson River frontage, con¬ necting through the Harlem Ship Canal with the Harlem River. The Ship Canal is to be straightened at this point and -plans are now being discussed with a view to removing the Johnson Iron Works and straightening and deepening the can¬ al, so that the larger vessels can get through. The Harlem River frontage will be materially increased in value by its better connection with the Hudson River and by the removal of two of the piers in the High Bridge which plan is also before the Government, and the general deepening of the river. ■'Moving southward along the river, one comes to the Port Morris Section of the Bronx. This has long been recognized as one of great importance for manufactur¬ ing purposes. The railroads have their terminals and yards there and the prop¬ erty is especially adapted to manufactur¬ ing purposes. In fact, all of the property south of llJid street, from the Bast River to the Harlem River, will eventually be turned over to manufacturing enterprises. By way of the Bronx Kills, the Harlem River connects with the East River and Long Island Sound, giving the Bronx hundreds of miles of waterfront on the East River, Long Island Sound, East Chester Bay, the Bronx and Hutchison Rivers and Westchester Creek. "Many plans are at present on foot for the development of these waterways. Two points especially adapted for im¬ provement are Hunts Point and Clason Point. "By the New Tork Connecting Railway Bridge, the Bronx will be accessible, with¬ out the use of lighter, to practically all the railroads of the continent. The New York Central, the New York, New Haven and Hartford and the New York, West¬ chester and Boston have direct entrances into the Bronx and have large freight terminals with a Port Morris Branch con¬ necting them. It is planned by the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad to run a marginal railroad through and around Clason Point, and the New Plaven Railroad plans to run around Hunts Point. This will give these large areas. of approximately 1.500 acres, waterfront and river facilities and the added advan¬ tage of being within reasonable distance nf Interborough transit facilities and sniendid residential sections. ""It is one of the un-que features of the Bronx that without much planning it can be developed according to the most mod¬ ern and approved zone method, the wa¬ terfront with its railroads making the manufacturing section. The interior resi¬ dential section is accessible to the finest parks and schools and to the leadmg amusement and shopping centres in the city, ''The Ivelii^h Valley Railroad, the Cen¬ tral Railroad of New Jersey and other railroads have waterfront terminals in the Port Morris Section. There is no reason whv .«nme day there should not he a marginal railroad connecting the various freight terminals in the Bronx. "There are also many .parts..pf; the Bronx which are adniirably adaptejl for improvement with commercial enterprises that do not need either railroad or water¬ front facilities. Land can be had at very moderate prices in neighborhoods easily accessible to the heart of the city and to the other boroughs where an exceptional¬ ly good class of labor and plenty of it can be found." The opinion of a student of transporta¬ tion should be of special value. Mr. Mil¬ ler writes; "There is a large section of the Bronx adjacent to the Bronx River and along the Hutchinson River and East- chester Creek that is admirably adapted for factory, purposes, requiring rail and water transit, and it seems to me that if the development of these sections for manufacturing purposes is taken hold of .at this time and the problem worked out in a broad-minded way on a comprehen- .sive plan these sections can be made the premier, manufacturing districts of Great¬ er New York, outpointing and outdis¬ tancing Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Jersey Sliore in securing the location of large manufacturing plants that will im¬ measurably increase the wealth and pop¬ ulation of the whole Borough in the near future. "It would seem wise, and in every way for the best interest of the Borough, for a liberal franchise to be granted to build a track, or tracks, from the New York, Westchester and Boston and the New Haven tracks along these waterways, with the requisite permission for neces¬ sary crossings and connections to reach industries that may locate thereon. "The advantages that would accrue to manufacturing plants located on the Bronx and Hutchison Rivers, with the railway tracks reaching them as sug¬ gested, would be that: "Freight in carloads from lines operat¬ ing via the Harlem River, or via the Poughlieepsie.Bridge, would command the New York rate basis to West Farms and Kingsbridge Station, plus only a nominal switching charge for delivery from there to the sidetrack points indicated, which switching charge would undoubtedly he absorbed in the through rate, thus plac¬ ing such plants in that particular on a parity with plants located directly on the sidings of trunk lines in the most con¬ gested and expensive districts. "Fuel would be available by water at such locations at rates that would at least put the industries on an equal basis with their competitors in other districts. "The cost of the locations would be very much less than in sections already developed and controlled for manufactur¬ ing purposes, and the taxes would be ma¬ terially less for a number of years to come. "Operatives and employes would be able to live near the place of their employ¬ ment, amid better and more healthful sur¬ roundings, at greatly reduced rent and eost of living. . . "The conclusions recently arrived at relative to the extension of the North River Steamship Piers, and the indis¬ putable present and ever-growing con¬ gestion of traffic on the City stree^ts makes the question of a remedy for those troubles also one of vital interest and it occurs to me to suggest that probably the best and most perfect remedy might lie in still further and more complete de¬ velopment of this same idea through a ■great distributing and reshipping termi¬ nal and warehouse scheme somewhat on the same plan, but of wider scope than the present Bush- Terininal plant, that would enable wholesale and jobbing houses and warehouse agencies to elimi¬ nate enth-ely & costly and cumbersome system of cartage through our streets 'and centralize their warehousmg and re- shipping at greatly reduced cost to them¬ selves, on-the sidetracks along the water¬ front of the eastern Bronx." Mr. Babcock speaks more particularly of the industrial development that is tak¬ ing place on and adjacent to the exten-