The New York herald., 1921-11-20
Downtown Realtors Will
War Against Rent Snipers

"A meeting of downtown realtors was
held on Friday afternoon In the office
OF Elias A. Cohen. president of the
Broadway-John Street Corporation. for
the purpose of devising means to com
bat the drawing off of business con-
Germs from Manhattan's lower segment
into the vacuum caused by the intensive
development of the Grand Central zone.
In explaining why he mad called the
conference Mr.. Cohen proposed an even
more militant objective. He was for
Declaring war against what he termed
the rent snipers" or real estate agents
who, he asserted, were circulating
among the downtown buildings and
taking away tenants on the promise OF
rentals which were lower than construc-
ton costs justified.
IF this shifting around or tenants
from one building to another Is going to
continue" he said, the time viii come
when each one will snipe against the
other and a stampede will ensue In
which some one is going to get hurt.
/ don't consider It ethical to induce peo-
ple to put their money in one district
ana then sacrifice that area to q newer
one merely for the purpose or earning
commissions. Something should be done
to fend against these attacks against
old established downtown districts. We
don't want to see the jewelry trade, Tor
example, taken up bodily and moved
into another section. although am sure
that 1t would be glad enough to come
back If Il ever tried any other location.
Aside from the moving picture. the
cloak and suit, the theatre and the auto
mobile industries. every substantial In
dustry has it's centre in the eighty-one
square blocks included in the downtown
sector. Mr. Cohen maintained. and the
defections from these districts. he added.
wera chiefly on the part OF light
weights"
.sThe substantial nrms cannot afford
to move away from the downtown dis
trict." he added. Nevertheless. we have
let some concerns go out of this area
that should have been kept here for their
own interests, If for no other reasons"
Mr.. Cohen was particularly incensed
over what he branded as lying rumors
of q break in rents. He Indignantly re-
futed a recent statement to the effect
that there were 100000 square feet of
space on the market in the sector south
Of Chambers street. The whole matter
he declared, simmered down to the ques-
ton Of how far downtown realtors could
go In maintaining the rents OF last year
and at the sanaA tina hold the tenants
In the district.
At least one man at the meeting did
not think the tide to the Forty-second
street sector could be stemmed or that
rents in the downtown sector could be
kept at last years level. He was Edward
j. Hogan, renting agent of the Wool
worth Building. Mr.. Hogan declared
that while he had no fears OF any sert-
Gus loss on the part OF the Woolworth
Building or the downtown section as
whole the remarkable development Of the
Forty-second street section had to be
reckoned with. Many good concerns
had gone I'D there, he added.
Furthermore, we are blinded by the
Sc rental rate" added the speaker. "and
IL wa are going to cling to that scale
many of tho buildings down town are
going to lose tenants. In the Woolworth
Building our rates were originally from
81 to So. Last year we averaged as
high as Sc. but we don't expect to get
It this year"
Mr.. Cohen then called upon some OF
those present to refute the rumor that
there was space going begging In the
downtown sector. Mr.. Hogan responded
that there were 10000 square feet out OF
a total of $4,000 vacant In the Wool
worth building and that 10000 OF the
unoccupied area had been taken over
from tenants whose leases had not ex-
pired. w. c. Spears of the Brown.
wheelock Company, said the Pro-
duce Exchange. and the buildings
at and Z Dey street. and 36
Wall street. were 100 per cent fuii; ~
Wall street Y Of 1 per cent vacant ;
Is Broad street . per cent vacant ana