The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-01-28
Rents in this City.

Rents in this City.
The question of rents in this city, to be
treated intclligcntly. must be discussed in its
various aspects, as bearing upon different
localities and different classes of property
stores, tenemcnts, and dwellings. Any
opinion based on general rise or fall of
rents should, at all times, be received with
great reserve.
As regards the course Of rents between
now and May l. 1t is as yet premature TO
hazard an opinion. In point Of fact very
little renting Is done during February.
Few landlords require answers from their
tenants earlier than the middle Of that
month, and few tenants do much in
the way Of house hunting tin March.
Hence the two great opposing camps Of
landlords and tenants, into which the city
Is divided, will not actually come face to
face with each other for some weeks yet,
and till they do all prophetic uttcranccs
regarding the course Of rents are mere spccu
lations. In certain localities, however, such
as Broadway, between Broome street and
Union square. where much vacant property
Is now standing idle, and has been vacant
during the past year, we can, from the prices
at present asked form tolerable opinion of
the probable range of rents. They will UNI
qucstionably be lower. But to say that there
will he decline Of ten per cent from last
years rates would be 10 speak without
data.
For two or three years past rents on
Broadway, in the locality we speak of, have
been very eccentric, while steadily and
largely on the decline Two stores exactly
alike, belonging to different owners, have
been, In some cases, rented at differences
ranging from twenty-five to thirty-thrce
! and third per cent; while a third equally
| good, on the same block, has quite likely
| stood empty. Under these conditions which
on Broadway below Fourteenth street are
rather the rule than the exception, IL will be
seen that decline of ten per cent In no man
ncr represents the probable reduction Of
rent, if 1t Is at all possible to strike an aver
age. The moment you step out Of Broadway
you can hire iirst-class stores, equal in style
size build, and finish to those on Broadway,
at prices ranging from thirty-three and
third to fifty per cent less.
The region between Canal and Houston
streets and Broadway and Fifth avenue is
rapidly becoming a centre for jobbing bust
ness. Hats and caps, hatters' furs, paper
boxes. artificial flowers, and certain branch
cs Of the dry goods trade, are congregatcd
here Rents in this locality have never been
forced up in the same ratio as on Broadway,
nor have thcy experienced so severe de-
cline. Tho greatest number OF vacant stores
in any one locality on Broadway, are found
in the ncighborhood Of Blocker street, and
from that up to Union square. The cause is
apparent. 1t Is change in the centre Of elc-
t.1. Ill
town movement and taken its abode higher
up on Broadway, between Seventeenth and
Twcnty-third streets, gradually overflow
ing in Fifth avenue. Here and all through
this ncighbOrhood. stores, dwellings. and
flats, command better prices than in any
other part Of The city. 1t is near the the
aires and hotels, and easy OF access from
all directions.
Another class Of property which must
bc considered by itself, comprises the
stores and tcncments lining the great
business thoroughfares, the First. Second,
Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth
avenues. These properties We're off from
eight to ten per cent. last year, and where
leases Of whole buildings have lately
been effected, still further concessions have
been established. 1t is noticed that the
apartments over the stores, keep up much
better In price than the stores themselves,
while they likewise rent more quickly. Flats
and stores below orty-sccond street, on the
east side, come in direct competition with
more recent and better style Of buildings
erected on the Second aud Third avenues and
the streets adjacent thereto above Fifty
ninth street. The new structures built at less
cost and consequently rented at less price,
are more complete and more in the nature Of
apartment houses than the older buildings
below The tendency Of this uptown build
ing movement, which from present appear
ances promises to assume important pro-
portions with the opening Of the spring, Is
toward cheaper rents and q better style Of
apartment houses
Expensive dwci ing houses between Twcn-
ty-third and Flilicth streets used for one
family say on Fifth and Madison avenues,
and on the streets running from the Fourth to
the Sixth avenue, are more likely to decline
In rent than to stand STILL from the simple
fact that there are fewer families now than
formerly who can at all afford to live
in them. We doubt II there be any
marked decline in that undergraduates,
small, neat, brown-stone house, renting at
from 5000 to $500, which of late years has so
greatly multiplied in the region between
Third and Fourth avenues above SiXtieth
street In the course of n few weeks, We
shall be enabled to speak more understand
ingly, If not more positively, on this subject
; Wedding Presents.