The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-08
VOX POPULI.
MR.. TAYLOR AGAIN DISCUSSES
HIGH RENTS ON PALAFOX
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| Editor Pensa cola Journal:
The common sense editorial in The
Journal of last Sunday, and the many
comments l have since heard on the
| nigh rents of Palafox street, assures
/ me II was a subject In which many are
! interested, therefore I will add a few
additional words on this subject.
As do not own property on Pala-
that possibly 1 can see both sides
without prejudice. Neither have I an
axe to grind" all the business
property I own is on East Garden
! street which is unfit for retail bust
ness.
1t is only through the efforts and
energy of the tenants of Palafox street,
that the property has become valu-
able. The owners with the help of
real estate dealers have continued TO
double and treble these values, until
the tenants can no longer make a sue
cess of business.
These tenants, however, have the
reins in their own hands, if they need
and care to use them.
With combined effort and a capable
leader, they have the power to move
the retail business to any street they
choose, with the same ease and dis
patch tn L. & n. moved her depot
All they need to do is to appoint one
great moving day at a future time;
agree to make a long term lease for
twice the room at one half their pres
ent rent, specifying that their build
1ngs must be modern, fire proof, and
not less than a basement and two
stories. They can choose any street
they please, say either Chase, Gregory,
Wright, Belmont, or even farther
north, and with the combined forces
of these merchants, all the financial
aid they need would be easily obtain
ed from capitalists of our country.
This is not the only city where
campaign for the reduction of rents
is needed. Other cities, among them
Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and nearer
home, Oklahoma City, have secured re-
auctions of twenty to sixty per cent.
Oklahoma City with a population SO
much greater than Pensacola has
rents there for business property that
would send one of our Palafox street
landlords into an early grave, they
are so much less than the rents i'm
posed in our city.
The business of asking for the re-
duCtion of rents should have been
taken up more than a year ago. 1t is
simply disgraCeful that tenants should
have had to pay larg rents during all
these months when business has been
so dull.
The Commercial Association should
long ago have urged the owners of
store property in the city to reduce
the rent, and I am sure landlords
would realize the impossibility of the
he paid a year ago.
The rents of some of the stores rep
resent from Is to 20 per cent of the
turnover, and it does not require a
very long headed business man to
realize that he cannot afford to pay
such a percentage of his turnover in
rent The charge for rent should not
exceed l per cent of a merchants turn
over and there is not enough profit
for the merchant when it exceeds that
amount.
reduction of rents would enable
our merchants to stop mail order bust
ness and compete with other cities.
I consider Florida one of the best
states in the union and Pensacola one
of the very best cities in which to
live, and I feel that no harm could
be done by publishing facts IS it is
we'll known that this depression is not
confined to Pensacola, but extends all
over the United States, and across the
boundary line as we'll.
1 firmly believe this depression has
been brought on here as well as else
where by real estate agents boosting
fictictious prices on property. For
example, vacant lots in the business
districts are being held at from two
to ten times their value and these
wiley tongued real estate men with
offices in nearby cities, have talked
people into buying lots in our out of
piece that should have sold by the
honest and legitimate investors are at
least discouraged and disguised.
J. E. TAYLOR.