New-York tribune., 1921-05-29
Realty Brokers
Make 9TH Avenue
Big Trade Center
Adopt Cooperative Methods
TO Bring Tenants Into
Garment District; Sue
cesses Prove It's Value

For the first time in the history Of
/ New York City real estate group Of
brokers specializing in properties IN
particular neighborhood have sue
cessfully combined their activities un-
der a cooperative arrangement based
on service rather than on profits. The
/ four brokerage firms are He'll g. Stern,
Frederick Fox & Co, Spear & Co. and
Zoltan Friedman, who formed in July,
! 1919. a working combination which
dedicated its efforts 10 the establish
ment Of the Seventh Avenue district as
! the new center for the garment trades.
! Their efforts in cooperative brokerage
enterprise have recorded one Of the
most signal successes in the annals Of
the brokerage profession.
The steady expansion Of New York
/ City's factory district in the last ten
years to point where it began to
menace the Fifth Avenue shopping
! center resulted in the formation Of the
Save New York Committee which
was organized for the purpose of in
augurating a protective movement 10
protect the city's finest retail district
from the invasion Of the needle trades
Helped Save Fifth Avenue
Acting in conjunction with this COM
mittee the Brokers' Syndicate was
I largely instrumental in the selection
and development of Seventh Avenue as
the logical center for the ALLEGATION Of
these trades, and il was through the
efforts of the syndicate that the pres
ent sites of the huge new garment
center capital buildings we're obtained.
The syndicate assembled for the Gar
ment Center Realty Company, which
acted for the group Of garment manu-
| tacturers, the half block front at the
northwest corner of Seventh Avenue
and Thirty-eighth Street and running
/ through to Thirty Street and
also the group of buildings at the
southwest corner Of Seventh Avenue
and Thirty seventh Street, running
through to Thirty-sixth Street. Forty
nine separate real estate parcels were
/ bought for the improvement. Work on
tbese big manufacturing projects is
steadily nearing completion and they
are expected to be ready for occupancy
within few weeks.
Found Tenants for Lofts
The next large operation to be in
trusted to the syndicate was the rent
ing of the new twenty-story building
covering the entire block front on the
easterly side of Seventh Avenue, be-
tween Twenty eighth and Twenty
nlnth streets, owned by the corporation
headed by Albert Herskowitz. The
structure contained floor SPACE an
proximating 10000 square feet. 1t was
entirely rented by the brokers before
the roof was on to some of the most
representative firms in their respective
lnes IN the city. The rentals obtained
tor the space established a new high
marx at the time. The magnitude of
/ the project may be appreciated from
the fact that the rent roll of the build
M totals nearly $500, 900 a year.
Inc success of this operation led to
the taking over Of another big CONNER
clai building planned in the same
nelghborhood by Israel Unterberg for
/ the plot al the northeast corner Of
Seventh Avenue and Twenty-seventh
Street. This building is twenty stories
in height. and despite the fact that It
was finished in the height of the re-
cent period Of business depression the
associated brokers succeeded II rent
ing the entire building to representa-
tive tenants. 1t now shows an annual
rent return Of close to S25000O
Cooperation Has Proved It's Value
Frederick P. Fox, president OF Fred
erlck Fox and Company, in discussing
the work of the brokers' group. said
A4e'S ~ elHIGu IA u / mas neGn htte
hane of the real estate brokers' exist
cnce. More time is lost by the incon-
sequential and futile negotiations com
retitively carried on in the rental Of
business property than in any other
phase Of brokerage endeavor. Perhaps
solution of this fault will be worked
out in the cooperative principle adopt
ed by the group of brokers who have
operated so successfully in the new
Seventh Avenue mercantile fieli The
father of this cooperative plan was J.
Howes Burton. The idea of bringing
the most active brefers R the renting
market into cooperative group was
based by Mr.. Burton upon a desire TO
render real public service, following
his efforts that have been so amazingly
successful in other directions familiar
to the city at large. That the success
of the plan constitutes a new phase of
conducting the rentals of large build
ings in the city is no longer a matter
for speculation"