New-York tribune., 1916-01-16
By JOSEPH T.. KEAN.
Secretary. Central Mercantile AS"c'a'


ton.
Cold facta often tell story that 10
far from cold. and a simple reiatihg
of such facts often sounds Ike I"
"glowing account" Anybody who mas
nnqscd along West 23d OF. recently hns
seen something we'll worth taikih8
about. and tho Central Mercantile a..
sociation is telling the story OF wha.
ANYBODY sees on West 23d 81. STORY
based on n careful study Of things as
they are.
Briefly. ss6 per cent OF the stores
ard Easements. between fifth ana oeV-
enth avs. on 23d st. are occupied 10
day. or the offices and lotts - per
cent arc occupied. The renting agehH
believe that this ~ record worm
pointing to, and the Central Metehht'ie
Association agrees with them.
Gradually within the last Few months
2gd st. has been making forward strides
The strides were not always the seven
league boots kind, but the march OF
progress was uninterrupted, ana %3u ST.
fclt itself getting there.
The Central Mercantile Association
hns at heart the development OF the
section of the city Of which 23d ~. IS
an important thoroughfare, and 40, nat
urnlly enough. the other day some one
suggested that the association should
make little survey along the street,
There are about two and half mill
ion square feet Of floor space fronting
ON that street, eaid the 23d ST. man
modestly. at might be interesting 70
ind out how much Of that space is oc,
cupied. Why don't you take stroll
down the street with "A notebook IN your
hand?"
So the associations representative
took the stroll The stroll was well
worth taking. or sixty-eight premises
visited thirty-two had not n square
inch 10 rent from cellar 20 roof. From
Fifth to Seventh av. there were approx
matelv 2.6S4,G85 square feet of space
available for the busy worlds work, OF
which i3s.020 square feet, only 10 per
cent Of this vast area, IS unoccupled
OF these 100000 square feet 62o,ooO
represented store and basement prop
critics and 2,056,325 feet represented Of
fee and lof. space. Approximately 49,
$50 square feet Of store and Easements
and about 81 ,440 of lofts and olhces
were unused at the time OF inspection.
These figures include the old Eden
Musee building, which mad 20 De re-
ported as "all vacant at the present
time. although Morimura Brothers, the
japanese importing house. has closed
a lease for six floors m the new twelve
storv structure which il to be erected
on the site Of the old museum. and the
greater part Of the remaining six floors
has already been rented. This building
is to stand completed by October | OF
this year.
Of the premises inspected II was
evident that the newer. modern build
ings showed the higher occupancy. In
nearly all instances all OF 90 per cent
OF the space Of such buildings has
found ready tenants
Many prominent firms have recently
located on this crosstown street so well
centralized and 50 highly accessible
to subways, elevated and street car
lines Among these concerns may be
mentioned Young Brothers. Mattock
& Graham. Barse Z Hopkins, Berliner
Straus & Meyer, Lax & Bergheimer
VI. Lowenstein & Sons, Cornelius Stack
the Schultz Realty Company, Loeb *
Schoenfeld, s. Herbert & Co., the
Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass and Glass
Company. montgomery, Ward e. Co.
Grimm & Co.. the Fairpoint Corpora
ton. 5. Steinfeld & Co.. the Seymour
Cravat Company, the Biltmore Wais.
Company, Lawrence & Co., the Eastern
Manufacturing Company. the Onondaga
Pottery Company. f. A. Patrick & Co.
/. & VI. Druckcrmann, the Eastern
Millinery Association. the Ammo Pho'
CORPORATION, the American Cyanamid
Company and the Baltimore Roofing
and Asbestos Company.
Twenty-third Street activity is reach
it's height only within the last few
months, judging from the statements
made BY various realty men during the