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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 89, no. 2309]: June 15, 1912

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JUNE 15, 1912. CITY'S PROPOSED $8,600,000 TERMINAL MARKET A New Departure in the Collection and Distribution of FoocJ Supplies- Will Displace 300 Buildings, Whose Tenants Must Be Housed Nearby. QN the 26th of this month the Commis- ^^ sioners of the Sinking Fund will have hefore them for a final hearing the pla,n of relocating West Washington and Gansevoort Markets. West Washington Market occupies the bulkhead space between Gansevoort and Little West Twelfth streets and is used for the handling of meat and poultry. Gansevoort Market is directly opposite, on the open space between West, Wash¬ ington, Gansevoort and Little West Twelfth streets. This is used by dealer.s m fruits and vegetables, and is known as the Farmers' Market." Both sites are owned by the city. Considering the immense economic im¬ portance of the proposed public improve¬ ment and the large questions of munici¬ pal policy involved, it is rather curiou:^ that the prtan has aroused so little public interest. The indorsement which the plan has received from a number of civic bodies and business men's "associations -will, however, undoubtedly have weight with the Sinking Fund Commission and later with the Eoard of Estimate. Briefly, the scheme involves the pur¬ chase by the city of the flve blocks be^ tween Little West 13th street,' Bethune Greenwich and Washington streets; that between West 13th, Bethune, Washington and Greenwich streets; a strip 70 feet ■wide on the west side of Washington street, from Gansevoort to AVest 12th .street, and the erection on this entire site of a six-story structure to be used for wholesale market purposes. Elaborate provision is to be made for receiving, handling and storage of freight, mostly perishable foodstuffs. The total assessed value of this land is $3,421,000. The cost, including land and structure, is placed at $8,610,832. Origlu of fhe Plan. Curiously enough, this important proj¬ ect did not originate with the business interests which are now chiefly identified "With its presentation to the city authori¬ ties. Large as the scheme is, it is close¬ ly associated with another quite as im¬ portant public utility scheme—a new West Side docit—and both of them dove¬ tail into a still larger project—the pro¬ posed marginal freight railway which Dock Commissioner Calvin Tomkins has been advocating for several years. About two years ago the White Star Line announced that it was about to construct two ocean greyhounds of 900 feet in length. The officers of the Dock Department here in New York were con¬ fronted with the problem of how to ac¬ commodate these ships. The longest available docks were about S35 feet. After some delay permission was ob¬ tained from the Secretary of War to ex¬ tend two piers on the West Side to the required distance. Further encroach¬ ment on the North River channel, how-- ever, is against the policy of the War Department, and the permission grantea was only temporary, June 30, 1913, being fixed as the date of its expiration. This necessitated the formulation by Commissioner Tomkins of some perma¬ nent plan for bringing our dock facilities up to the requirements of the largest ocean liners. The Gansevoort street dock had the double advantage of being owned by the city and of being the only dock not tied up by long leases. Its use for dock purposes would not entail expensive and tedious condemnation proceedings. It lent itself to the plan of extension by dredging Inland toward the marginal street. Application was made to the Commis¬ sioners of the Sinking Fund for permis¬ sion to utilize this property to its fullest capacity for steamship purposes by re¬ moving West Washington Market from the bulkhead space so as to permit the necessary extension. This seemed par¬ ticularly feasible, as Washington jMarket obtains no advantage from the dock, practically all of its freight coining to it by the New York Central cars and truclis. The "new plan" submitted to the Com¬ missioners of the Sinking Fund provided for a basin 350 feet wide, to accommodate two ships 900 feet long. The necessary legislation was sought. At this point the opposition of the mar¬ ket men to the abandonment of the West Washington iVTarket resulted in the pre¬ sentation of a second bill to the Legisla¬ ture giving the Sinking Fund Commission authority to permit the use of the market site for dock purposes provided a plan was devised for relocating the market. This bill had the indorsement of the city administration. It passed the Legisla¬ ture and was signed by Governor Dix and Mayor Gaynor. The marketmen at once changed their attitude from oppo¬ sition to intense enthusiasm. Mayor Gay¬ nor subsequently appointed a City Mar¬ ket Committee to go into the matter and devise a plan for locating the new mar¬ ket. The committee included Borough President Miller of the Bronx, B. H. Out¬ erbridge. of the Chamber of Commerce, and Lawrence L. Driggs. attorney and chairman ol; the City Club's Special Com¬ mittee on Market Policy. This committee invited the co-opera¬ tion of the various-marketmen's associa¬ tions connected with West Washington and Gansevoort Markets, and with other local business men's associations of the Chelsea and Greenwich village sections. These combined organizations prepared ill detail an elaborate scheme for relo¬ cating both markets. Their report was presented to the Mayor's City Market Committee on May 20. It is signed by P. Maxwell Sayford, secretary to the joint committee repre¬ senting the following organizations; Gansevoort Market Business Men's Asso¬ ciation, Chelsea Association of Merchants and Manufacturers, West Washington Market Association. Greenwich Village Public Service Committee. Accompany¬ ing their report are drawings and detail plans by J. G. Glover, architect. The re¬ port was presented by the Mayor's com- rnittee to the Eoard of Estimate on May It is not the purpose of this article to exhaust the details of the plan for the uew municipal market, but rather, with¬ out omitting essential points, to present in its broader aspects a scheme which is of great importance; first, because it promises to solve the grave question of needed local docking facilities, and sec¬ ondly, because it presents to the City of New York an opportunity to take flrst rank even among those cities which long ago adopted the policy of scientific treat¬ ment of the collection and distribution of foodstuffs. The proposed West Side market would embody, in the character of construction and in the facilities for handling wholesale produce, the best methods employed by the successful wholesale markets of European cities, in¬ cluding Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Vienna, Iiyons. London and Glasgow. For loeal reasons, and in view of other large mu¬ nicipal projects which the Dock Depart¬ ment is trying to worli out, the market would ultimately be a more eflicient fac¬ tor than any of its European prototypes in the distribution of foodstuffs and in reducing the percentage of excess cost between the producer and consumer—in other words, the high cost of living. The Scheme Outlined. It is designed, assuming the city pro¬ cures the land already specifled, to erect four six-story and basement buildings running longitudinally from the south side of Little West 12th street to the north side of Bethune street, each 80 feet wide and 920 feet long, one on the west side of Washington street, from a point about G6 feet south of Gansevoort street on the present open square, 60 feet wide and 760 feet long, and one building run¬ ning east and west on the block bounded hy West 12th street. Washington, A^^est and Bethune streets, fronting 140 feet. With a depth of 366 feet. The first four ^ I .a^^/,.// \^- [ __]_, !j. )7 . PLANS FOR THE NEW TERMINAL MARKET ON THE LOWER WEST SIDE. Prepared by J. G. Glover, architect. Submitted to City Authorities by the Ganse¬ voort Market Business Men's Asso., -West -Wasti- lugtoa Market Asso., Chelsea Asso. of Mer¬ chants and Manufacturers, Greeu-n^icli Village Public Service Committee.