The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-21
ASTOR OFFERING TO TENANTS.
EAST SIDE TENEMENT LESSEES
NAY BUY THEIR SITES.
Leases Of the Buildings FAN In q Year
or Two Hence and They would Lose
Their Holdings - Purchase Oncrcd
by Col Aston on Favorable Terms.

InCtr Holdings - Purchase Oncrcd
by Dol. Aston on Favorable Terms.
Negotiations have been quietly con-
Quoted FOR month past by the Office Of
Douglas Robinson, Charles S Brown & Co.
looking to the sale of forty tencments in
Avenue A and East Fourteenth and Fiji
teenth streets for John Jacob Aston 10 the
lessees Of the ground on which the houses
stand The deal has prlc: ically been con-
cluded, and the deeds of transfer will begin
to 60 on record next month.
The total value of the property involved
is S750.0O0. 1t comprises eigh, four-story
buildings with stores at 227 to 2ii Avenue A.
covering the block front on the west side of
the avenue, between Fourteenth and Fiji
tenth streets: four similar parcels at
H3 70 $40 Avenue A. on the northwest
corner Of Avenue and Ffteenth
street; eight ive-story tcnements at a2j TO
40 Eas, Fourteenth, on the north side of
the street. adjoining the Avenue A corner;
eight abutting and similar parcels at Az to
4S6 East Fifteenth street and twelve five
story tenements on the south side of Fiji
teenth street at Nos as To 437. The ave-
nue. lots vary in size from % to % feet by o..
The street lots are each 25xiO3.3 feet. All are
expire in three or four years.
According to the terms of the leases the
buildings, which have been erected by the
lessees revert TO the owner of the ground with
the expiration of the leases. The present
!essees have all been formally notified that
their parcels are about to be sold, and
an opportunity has been given TO them to
save their investment in the buildings by
purchase of the site.
The purchase price has been fixed at a
reasonable capitalization Of existing ground
rents Along Fourteenth street, for ex-
ample, where the present ground rents are
about $500 year for each twenty-fve-foot
lot. the price has been fixed at about $4,000
a lot The corner OF Avenue A now yields
an income of $1,000 year, and its value is
put at $4,000. This is substantially upon
a 81 per cent. basis.
The First avenue parcels are more val
,iabie. There is an elevated station at
this point and IL is a good business block.
In Fifteenth street the prices for the inside
lots are from $4,000 to $4,000 each, and in
Avenue A they range from $4,000 to 81 900.
The John Jacob Aston holding forms one
half Of the so-called Aston leaseholds in
the two blocks bounded by Fourteenth
and Sixteenth streets and Avenue A and
First avenue. The other half belongs to
william Waldorf Aston. A representative
Of the latter said yesterday that none of this
holding is being offered for sale. 1t ap-
pears not unlikely. however, that the ". W.
Aston leaseholds may also eventually he
put on the market.
W. W. Aston began selling East Side
property in 1890. Both he and John Jacob
Aston have apparently adopted the policA
Of getting out Of the tenement districts
and improving those Of their holdings
elsewhere that are suitable to serve as
sites for high-grade private residences and
apartments. hotels and business buildings,
The terms offered to the lessees to whom
John Jacob Astor is now selling are very
favorable. An earnest money Of 500 is
all that is required. When title is taken.
which will be early in January in the case
Of most OF the properties the sum Of about
5000 is to be paid by the buyer Of each
parcel. this figure varying but little in the
different cases. The rest Of the money
is left on bond and mort gage. and may
be paid at the option Of the buyers in ten
or twelve years.
The land belonging to John Jacob and
W. W. Aston in the two blocks bounded
by Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets and
Avenue A and First avenue was bought
by William B. Aston about sixty years ago.
1t descended from him TO his two sons,
William Aston and John Jacob Astor the
third William Aston died in 1902, leaving
four daughters and one son, the present
John Jacob. The present William Waldorf
Aston was the only son of John Jacob the
third.