New-York tribune., 1908-04-01
LAND DEVELOPMENT.
SUCCESSFUL METHODS.
Operate in Nearby Suburban Fields,
SAYS WiIliam E. Harmon.

The methods by which person with the neces-
sary capital and ability may become e successful
developer OF suburban tracts of land were revealed
last night the real estate school Of the West
Side Young Mems Christian Association, No so
West 9Th street by William E. Harmon, OF Wood,
Harmon & Co, a corporation which in the last
twenty-five years has bought. developed and sold
suburban tracts representing investment OF over
100000. The subject Of his address was Sub
urban Developments" OF course, 1t would be ut
tery impossible for Mr.. Harmon or any other per
who has been long and so prominently sue
cessful improver OF suburban sites to indicate
all the guideposts the paths TO success in the
suburban fields of the most important and
of the most aIlUring IN the upbuildtng of any
great city. In view OF that fact, Mr.. Harmon
chiefly strove 10 impress upon his hearers what
Of the principal things TO do in order
to TO the doer reasonable share of success
in his work a developer of suburban tracts
Years ago most cities were compacuy built up
and that compact growth was mainly due, said
Mr.. Harmon, Ito methods OF travel which were
rather primitive and slow. The majority of persons
had to live their places Of business or employ
ment, and that is why the business and reslden,
centres Of cities practically occupied small
and with the business and residential sections
in many overlapping one another Modern
methods OF transit changed these old and familiar
characteristics of cities and with the use Of cleo
tricity g power the cities began TO spread
quickly in least three If not in every direction.
Many old cities still retain some Of their old
coulpactness Boston, Providence Philadelphia
and Baltimore few such cities. Even those
cities too growing rapidly beyond their
old boundaries, and therefore quickly losing
their old characteristics. This centrifugal move
nent in the growth of cities is by means ended;
It has really just begun And for that reason we
are passing through a speculative era in suburban
land.
Now there many, I should say. almost
innurerable tracts OF land which have been cut up
into lots and which being marketed by unscru-
pulous persons and called by the sellers
land within the legitimate suburban zones of this
city. The truth IS they away beyond the real
suburban districts and II will be fifty more
years before they become part OF this great
city. It is the sections contiguous or almost ad-
Joining the developed parts of the city that form
the suburban districts. which will really furnish
home sites for the masses that will come TO this
city within the next decade.
The fact, however. must not be overlooked in
determining the present and probable suburban
centres Of this city that the price OF land on Man
haitian Island and in other thickly populated sec
tious Of New York is rapidly pushing manu-
featuring concerns into outlying yet nearby dis
tricts, where land suitable for the use OF manu-
featuring plants can be purchased at d sum at
tractive 10 those concerns The industrial life Of
Manhattan Island or rather the increase in its
manufacturing establishments, Will not be main
tained in the same ratio increase. in population
in the past, for the recent comparative tables
rejecting this~ratio between factories and popu-
lation already shows that most Of the new facto-
RES are occupying adjacent suburban sites
This drift OF manufacturing concerns from the
older newer sections OF the city viii undoubtedly
result in the development OF land surrounding the
newer factory centres with homes for persons of
moderate means who numbered among the
vast army OF working men and women
My advice prospective developers Of sub
urban land is to buy TO hold. but buy to
develop Immediately and to resell Exceptional
conditions sometimes change this aspect of realty
affairs and It is these exceptions which show that
there are few fast and definite rules guide
in realty operations. Up 10 few years ago Wood,
Harmon & Co. never purchased except for irnme-
Brooklyn that exception. In Brooklyn we
found largely speculative possibilities, and we
therefore bought principally for the future What
led US in Brooklyn from regular
Of buying and developing immediately was
that Brooklyn surrounded its westerly,
easterly and southerly sides by water. and that
it's growth northerIy would be checked by the
many cemeteries there. Moreover, Brooklyn then
had good transit facilities. and figured that at
its of growth at the time we bought what
available tracts there were for development could
not long remain undeveloped,"
There is great danger IN buying property for
suburban development along transit lines projected
or not in operation. Remember also, that there
Is difference in the value of suburban land III a
5-cert fare il 10-cent fare zone The land
IN the scent fare territory is really worth about
81 900 lot TO the average workman than lot
in the 10-cent fare section The high class suburban
development IS not profitable TO the developers
as opera tons affecting land which appeal especially
to the majority Of wage earners. 7 know a person
who developed q high class residential section in
this city who told NE he very poorly paid
for his work"