The sun., 1909-02-28
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET
4 LIVELY DEMAND FOR COON
BUILDING SITES.
Eight Solid Blocks on Broadway Yrsm
I5Jth 20 Islst Street TO Ne Butt IN
This sprins With Fine Apsrtm ents
MANY New Lofts for Midtown Plat.

Eight Solid Blocks on Broadway Yfsm
I5Jth 60 ISlst Street 10 Ne Butt Up
This spring With Fine Apartm ents
Many New Lofts for Midtown Picts.
The cut in the price Of structural stss,
will apparently not have as much In.
huenoe on the building industry az vas
at first expected. The announcement
that a price revision was to be mada
has indeed been followed by much Ct.
cited inquiry about the new quotations.
The requests for information coma
however, IL would seem. chiefly from
builders who have already planned struot
ural work this spring.
There is a great deal OF such work pro-
jeoted in tho uptown apartment house
district and in the midtown mercantile
section, and those VIII, are engaged in
the building campaign there are Of oourss
anxious to adjust their contracts to the
new steel schedule. It is said. however,
| by the leading downtown operators
and builders that under present renting
and general business conditions no struct-
ural work Of any consequence viii Be-
induced in tho financial district by the
lower cost Of steel.
This cost in the case Of steel skeietoo
freproof building is not largo item In
the total outlay for materials and labor.
IL averages perhaps about 7I por can't
The lower prices now obtainable would
represent q saving of hardly moro tha.
1 per cent. In the outlay on q high class
steel building. or course a saving of
$50, 900 on a structure like the City In
vesting Building is worth considering.
but it is not sufficient to outweigh exist
ing renting conditions
The effect Of the cut In steel prices
was besides minimized by the action Of
the Board OF Estimate last week In refus-
ing TO accept the restriction on the height
of new buildings proposed by the Buildins
Code Revision Commission. II the pro-
posal had been accepted many ovnsrs
Of sites downtown would no doubt have
been impelled to build at onoe In order
TO prevent depreciation in the valus Of
their land. The decision Of the Board
of Estimate was received by real estats
interests as an intimation that other
radical changes in the building coda
contemplated by the revision commissop
will not be ratified by the city authorities.
IL is true the committee Of the Board
Of Estimate which declined TO indorss
a fat lLnita ton of the height OF firsproof
buildings. expressed it's willingness to
consider a principle Of limita ton deter
mined with reference to the site, but the
general attitude taken by the COMMITTEES
led to the belief that no change will bs
allowed that does not commend itself TO
the merchant community as we'll as TO
fire underwriters. Meanwhile the delay
of the revision commission in reporting
the draft code in full is causing good deal
Of disturha nee in the building industry
The belief is still current that the new
code may reduce all emi-freproof con-
struction, including apartment houses,
TO FIVE stories and plans are consequently
being filed in large numbers to forestall
this possible feature of the code.
The dealing in real estate during the
week was on fairly large scale. Its
principal feature was a lively demand for
sites available for improvement with
apartment houses and loft buildings. The
chief seat of activity was at the upper end
of Washington Heights, in and near
Broadway. The activity there has been
in progress for some time now and as a
result of It eight block fronts Of vacant
hand on Broadway from nth to isist
street have passed into the hands OF
builders. All will ne improved this
spring with high class apartment houses
Inc buying of apartment house sites was
not contined to any particular locality.
however. linus two valuable corners
one at Riverside Drive ana Ninety nth
street and one at ParK avenue and Sixty
second street, were acquired as sites for
cooperative apartment buildings.
Inc trading in the midtown mercantile
section was less exclusively professional.
hut even here the professional element
was predominant. 4 strong uptown
movement on the part of Wholesale houses
and manufacturers is offering opportpni-
ties Tor speculative profits in the area
bounded roughly by Twenty fifth and
orty- seventh streets. between Eighth
and Madison avenues Operators are
therefore buying up sites and reselling
them 10 buslne houses or to builders
for improvement with loft constructions.
The sites have to be pieced together
from small holdings in the possession OF
diherent owners. The process is one
that requires skill coupled with knowl-
edge oi local realty conditions. How
ever, the component parts Of a 100 foot
site are worth much more when united
than they were when separated, and the
intervention of the professional operator
is generally profitable both to himsa6
ana to the investor.
Among the constructions projected
during the week was one that is evidently
in the nature Of an experiment. James b
Leo as architects filed plans with Building
Murphy for the first seven
story tenement house planned in ths
greater city since tine tenement houss
law went into effect in 1901. when the od
NNt..
The new building is to be of freproof
as the law requires, and is
TO stand on a seventy-five foot plot in the
heart of the original Little Italy at Noa
2l0 to PA Thompson street. 1t will be-
ted for Annie NJ. Pisarrs and Victoria
V. Cavagnaro as owners. 1t will have
siNty-six apartments and will cost $4,000.