New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-15
NETWORKS ECCENTRIC REAL ESTATE VALUES
GREAT DIFFERENCES IN LOTS WHICH ARE EQJI-
DISTANT FROM DOMINATING THOROUGHFARES
NETWORKS

~. recent boom n real estate values IN West
-hi-rv-fourth-st. as a result o. the proposed
rennsvlvaria Railroad station, has caused many
expe-ienced real estate operators 10 bite Their
tongues. They had not counted on this new shift
of fortune and had not bought before the news
with their own IDEAS OF the trend OF values they
had invested elsewhere and now they behold
others realizing big DrOats BY simply selling out
And SO the investor who buys real estate on the
island of Manhattan often experiences the same
t-e1Idaion as does the roulette player
shall stake my money OF this corner or THAR
shall I buy east OF west Of Broadway
win the Rapid Transit subway or the ne"
bridges 10 Brooklyn o1eT richer fields for spe'ula
dom
These are some OF the questions real estate
operator asks himself and tries 70 solve He buys
and afterward he is likely 10 say,
What a fool I was
Real estate values in Manhattan are said by men
q the trade to be more pulling than in any other
CITY Of the United States Although Broadway, be
cause o. its predouInatirg position. forms the
spinal column through which the life OF the
metropolis passes by day well as BY night
nevertheless the cross streets which are its triou-
taries vary greatly from one another IN the
amount OF business which they attract. In riding
I'd Broadway from Bowling Green. one often sees
on his left only q block away, some magnificent
property on which is built skyscraper. and whose
land alone is worth the 800 bills which one would
need 10 cover it, while his right at the same
distance and IL 2 street equally broad and acceS-
sl5le. ne discovers row OF rickety brick houses
which seem 10 have survived the days OF Peter
stuyvesant. AID TO have preserved for the present
generation much Of the tranquility and repose OF
ne elder davs. Although II the same distance from
P-oasyyav this land even with the buildings on Il
Is worth only a third or a fourth as much as me
bare site OF the skyscraper OF the other side
land brokers may try 70 explain these sights
and tavo-itisrns OF Dame Fortune. but their e1-
rIanations often become contradictions when com
pared one with another. At last some sage in
weston viii say:
.'ore niece q property is valuable because its
valuable and the other cheap because its cheap
and with thes- words % wisdom he VIII dismiss
the subject
No greater contrasts in real estate valuations
exist in world than each side Of lower
broadway. Tor example, at its very foot lots 10
the westward run from one-haf 10 one-sixth OF
the price OF those OF the east Two hundred feet
west from Bowling Green and facing on Battery
Park property has been approximately valued -
So a square foot Two hundred feet east in
Beaver-st owners hold their land al so square
loot
From Bowling Green 10 Chambers-st- property
on the east side q Broadway surpasses In prlce
that 10 the westward. Above Reade-st- the tables
are turned and until the OF the Rapid Transit
tunnel in Elul-s-. was announced, from Reade-sI
10 F0urteeu-h-sl-, land west Of Broadway Al equal
distance was about twice valuable IS that On
-he east The subway has not exactly started 2
boon Of the East Side real estate but Il has set al
the brokers guessing. some say Elm-st- VIII
double IL value Others say * viii not sun others
shake their heads.
A comparison Of the land values between Bowling
Green and ChaUbers-st furnishes some astonish-
ing facts West OF Broadway. just in the rear OF
stately Office buildings which face in the main
tho-ouEhcare. may be found tenement houses
thruuzed with Immigrants from European ana
Asa-lc Turkey. II Greenwich and Washington sts-
the star and crescent are seen frequently as the
American flag Arabic inscriptions over the doors
invite or repel the passer ~, the case may be-
To the east Of Broadway. in New-st. and Broad
81. are the money centres Of the United States.
Here are banks brokerage odlces and the head
quarters 81 great corporations with worldwide in
terests Either the north south corner Of
NalI-st. and Broadway is regarded by brokers
the most valuable land 81 the United States. The
F-- south corner, consisting % 1.210 square
fee-. held IL S6510oC. $50 square foot one
block distant al Broad-st and WaI-st-. where
- Pie-p1nr Morgan has his Offices. and which IS
often ca led the Heart o. Wall-st-" LANG has been
appraised 81 S400 . square foot At William and
Wal Sis. q block SIN further eastward. the LAND
valuation is 500 square foot: al Pear-st. Il is
3. Water-st-. So. AZ Front-st-, Sc. and al
South-st. on the waterfront, $40
Should one 20 west in Rector-st- from Broadway.
one wOuld ind striking contrasts 20 these Wall-st
prices Rector is almost continuation OF Wall ST.
although lerably narrower. and bounded for
block the north BY Trinity Church yard. Al
point just east Of GreenWich-st. and the same
distance from Broadway as 500 Wall-st property
the lane is valued al So a square foot Rector and
washington sts- which is about eguidistant from
BROADWAY compared with the 500 Wall and
william ST property. is worth 80 a square foot
te-ar and Liberty SITS. cross Broadway with the
ssfne 7-cth and tle same degree Of accessibility
O. Tie west as CT ire Yet striking differences