The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-15
HIGHEST RENTS
 PAID IN NEW YORK  Gotham Holds Worlds Record
 In This Respect BROADWAY CORNER LEADS Enormous Sums Charged for Offices and Apartments Both Downtown
 and uptown-one Lease
 Made for sf2, 2,o66,ooo.
 
BROADWAY CORNER LEADS

chunk of it, at Broadway and Wall street. commands a higher rental than Is paid for the same amount of space anywhere else in the world. Slightly over $3o a square foot, averaging, 1t is said, S4o,oou year, is paid by cigar company Tor one small store on this site, which goes to show that money invested in cigars does not all go up in smoke.
 A quarter of a million is the eonserva- tive sum estimated representing the combined rentals of space on the con- course floor of the Hudson Terminal build ing, while $500O00 is paid by single firm for ten floors in a neighboring skyscraper, and it is said the Erie railroad more than matches this sum by the tidy rental It pays for five floors in the Cortlandt street terminal building. No other corporation has as much floor in this structure.
 People who want office space in Man haitian never seem to let a little matter of rent stand in the way of acquiring it. When John w Gates desired a suite of private offices in upper Fifth avenue he paid $55,0o0 a year for a modest sized floor and fitted it up cozily at an expense of Sl2,000. His suite in the Trinity building cost him $50,000.
 The postoffice is one of Manhattan's good tenants Close upon $250,0oO goes into Father Knickerboeker' pockets from the government, which pays $223,900 year for postoffice stations, finding space in the Grand Central Palace, at $33,500 year, al West and Morton streets at $20, 800 and al the Madison Square and few other sta tions at almost as high figure. The produce exchange has the postoffice for a tenant Like others, it has to pay the S1.50 square foot, which totals up S45Do a year for store space in this building.
 Lessees are afraid that rents will continue to soar in Manhattan that many the government included-have taken lpac on the other hand, numerous agents have wisely provided against future contin- geneies of another kind and refused to lease except on long terms.
 $12,ooo,ooo Lease.
 The longest lease of it's kind in New York is that of a Greeley Square site at the southeast corner Of Broadway and Thirty-third street, for term Of 1o5 years for SIP, ,000,000. Four millions will be paid for the first i2 years and 900 for the rest of the term an arrangement on the part of the lessee. Harry Levey, which goes to show that he believes the site will increase in value in a generation or so after he has erected a $2, GOO. GOO or $3000, 900 structure to stand upon that corner on com 5sletion of the Pennsylvania tunnel
 The old New York club site, at Fifth avenue and Thrty-fifth street, has been taken by grocery firm for term of 2l years for s4,00O,000 net, while another lease for the same period has been entered into for No. l West Thirty-fourth street.
 Significant of the times is the fact that private houses which have rented at 5000 and $10,000 are now bringing only 5000 and 5000. For exceptionally fine houses peo- pie pay d rental of from s25,000 to $35, 600 a year, a price which would have made the early knickerbockers gasp, while the fact that the late J. Henry Smith paid &, ,OO0 for the Whitney house when he bought it. with few of it's furnishings. would have caused the very wigs to rise from their heads in amazement.
 .'The most expensive residence property in Manhattan" said Messrs. Pease & Elli- man. lies between Fifth and Madison av- enues from Fifty-nnth to Seventy-secon1 s+-~ets. In good sections this property cells for s4oO,0G0 to $500, ,00o while in Park and Madison avenues values run from $4vo,uuJ to s-uO.0u0 for house and lot.
 S4o,ooo for Eight Months.
 The highest rental paid recently for a house was $l0,000 for period of eight months This house is in Sixty-second street, just off Fifth avenue. Scarcely two blocks below it in the avenue apart 1nents which are said to be the most ex- pensive in the city with an average an- liual rental of s15000 each People who have two of these apartments thrown into one to enjoy a spacious home pay just
  ege.
 New York hotels no longer shelter only a transient population. Each great car avansary means home to unnumbered small families. John w. Gates is said to have paid S50,000 year for his suite at he Plaza hotel. A certain wealthy wo-
 n Is said to exceed this figure by $10000
 the sum she pays for her luxurious h. q apartment At the Holland House one may enjoy the use of two rooms and bath for Sl5,G00 year, and at the St. Regis at the rate of S25 a day, while tho Waldorf charges $20,000 a year for small suites.
 The St. Regis is perhaps the only placo in New York which will not make a long lease. A tenant is charged by the day only, and may decrease or add to the number of rooms in his suite at his own convenience and depart at pleasure, with no lease to occasion months of outlay during absence.
 Special Privileges costiest.
 The highest rents in New York are paid for standing room. The most princely rental paid for store, office, residence. apartment or hotel space does not com pare. proportionally. with the sum ex- pended for humble bootblack stand, a soda fountain or cigar kiosk.
 A. Schulte pays $50 square foot for cigar privileges In the Cortlandt street terminal building, and this Is said to be next to the highest rent paid by anybody in the world. The cigar lease for the northwest corner of Cortlandt and Church streets runs for F years at a cost of $50 a. square foot for 800 square feet, while the lease includes five other stands in the terminal building at a total cost of $500,- O00 One of these is in the exact center or the Hudson terminal concourse floor, and for this glass booth, open on three sides and covering a space 21 by feet in size, a rental of $7560 year is charged. 1t Is said that 1SS,000 cigars at two for 25 cents would have to be sold to cover q years expenses of this stand, and taking ,other expenses into account, S250,000 would reed to be disposed of before profits would begin
 Higher prices are paid for cigar priv ilges than for any other occupying a pro- portionate amount of space. In a Broad way office building $1500 Is received as an- nual rent for stand 90 square feet in size. and such stands pay correspondingly high prices for space in other buildings and hotels.
 Boothspace is rented subject to bid and charged for on the basis of the business proposed as much as on the location or space Eight trades are great lessees of space privileges, and rank in the follow ing order as profitable tenants of these: