New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-26
TO REFLECT LQT.DEMAND
Moss Offering viii Show Public
Interest in Market.
TRACT IN WEST BRONX
Expert Says Section Will Be
Well Taken Care of by New
Transit Routes.

To observers Of the real estate market
the sale Of the S45 lots comprising the
Moss estate. in the Vesey street sales
room, next Tuesday, is likely 10 prove of
unusual interest. First. it Will afford one
Of those opportunities to gauge the public
interest in real estate. which. in the gen.
orally inactive state of the present mar
ket come with none too great frequency.
Besides this, IT will furnish a good guide
as TO the amount of interest on the part
OF spectators and investors in the Je-
rome avenue sectional phase of the mar
ket which has had no adequate test since
the new subway system became an as
sured fact
AS TO the attention centred on the Moss
offering. ]. Clarence Davies and Joseph
p. Day, who have charge Of the sale for
the Moss heirs, said yesterday that the
number of advance inquiries had fallen
considerably below expectations, even
when due allowance had been made for
the facts that this is not the lot buying
season and that when a lot sale is asked
TO compete with a municipal election for
public attention the lot sale is apt to be
at a disadvantage. Regardless of what
support the sale may receive. MeSsrs.
Day and Davies added that every lot will
positively be sold on Tuesday, 50 that. for
many of the lots. prices ought TO be de-
termined by bed rock values rather than
by any element of competition.
Those who have even glanced at a map
10 see the location of the Moss property
cannot have failed 10 be impressed with
its novel features in this respect 1t is
not a bit of remote, outlying territory.
On the contrary, it is much closer to
Manhattan than many other parts of The
Bronx which have been closely built up
and in which much higher scales of real
estate values prevail. The only difference
has been that these other sections have
had the advantage of a fve-cent fare.
This discrimination against the West
Bronx will soon be at an end. The ad-
vertising for bids on the jerome avenue
extension by the Public Service Commits
sion means that the last of the formalities
in connection with that route are out OF
the way, and that construction will 90
ahead Immediately.
1T is seldom that any section has
seemed marked for so certain an advance
in values as this Jerome avenue district"
remarked a man yesterday whose real
estate opinions usually carry weight.
ANY extension OF transit facilities is d
forerunner of higher values, but the ef
feet Of different lines may vary greatly,
both as concerns the character of deVel-
opment and the time 1t takes TO work
itself out. In other words, there can be
no guarantee that a line leading straight
out into new territory will bring abou
Immediate development The Dyckman
tract is a good case in point. The build
ing movement there came along all right.
but It really amounted TO nothing. aside
from three or four scattered operations,
until about two years ago-or SIX or seven
years after the subway had been opened.
Conditions in the West Bronx district
tributary to Jerome avenue are different.
Here is an area surrounded by improve
ments that is awaiting only the five-cent
fare and through transit without change
into the heart of Manhat tan. That It's
development will follow Immediately is
as near a certainty as anything in real
estate. 1t lies between the built-up sec
lions on Washington Heights and those
In the central and easterly Bronx. With
rapid transit II will be closer TO the City
Hall in point OF time than many OF those
built-up sections, besides having the
choice Of two routes downtown, the Lex
ington avenue subway to the East Side
and the sixth and Ninth avenue elevated
roads TO the West Side. If the Moss es-
tate neighborhood doesn't come IN quick
ly under these conditions, everybody may
as we'll stop figuring as TO what Is gong
to happen in regard TO lines Of city
growth"
What has already taken place with re-
stricted transit facilities in the region
surrounding the Moss estate property
abundantly bears out this prediction.
Such OF the old estates as have been SUD
divided-the ogden. the Lees and others
have been eagerly taken up by builders
so that in every direction from the prop
erty which is TO be sold on Tuesday one
sees attractive modern apartment houses,
OF design and equipment similar TO those
on Washington Heights and only slightly
lower in rentals. although land values
here are only fraction of those pre-
vailing along the northery ridge Of Man
haitian.
The development Of the Moss holdings
ought also to have a markedly beneficial
effect upon all of the surrounding neigh
borhood. Several thoroughfares intersect-
ing the property have been opened. regu-
lated and graded, some OF them 10
width OF 50 and 100 feet, 30 that not only
the Moss property itself but good ceal
OF the adjacent territory has been rem
dered easier OF access. Furthermore. out
OF the 3E lots in the property, seventy
eight or more than one-fifth, are on