The New York herald., 1922-02-09
MACY'S TO EXPAND
In 19 STORY ANNEX
5000, 900 Building Blending
Into Present Structure Is
Planned in 3Ith Street.
STORE TO HAVE 40 ACRES
Steel Contract Already Let and
Clearing of Site is to
Begin Soon.

nineteen story building running from
Thirty fourth to Thirty fifth street is
to be erected inlmedie tely Just to the
west of the present great Macy store
and made an integral part of it, ac-
coTdlng to an announcement made yes
terday by Percy S. Straus, vice-presi-
dent of r. II. Macy. Inc The new
building and the changes in the old will
cost. it is understood, about s5,oo0,o00,
and will give the old New York store a
total of forty acres of floor space. about
a million and half square feet. The
announcement was made in connection
with the siXty-fourth anniversary of
Macy's.
aIr. Straus explained that in 1902 his
father estimated that the new store in
Thirty fourth street could do just half
the volume of business the store is do
ing at present. Improved methods are
responsible for the great increase i'll
trade which can be handled. but the
store some time ago reached a point
vhcre it must either cease TO grow or
expand radically. The projected build
iRs Is the result. 1t will open in the
autumn of 1923.
"Conf;dcncc I'm Prosperity"
1.-THE new building has been contem-
plated by this company for some years,
and we feel that now the time has come
to build it, said Mr.. Straus. 1--WE are
far from believing that this country is
headed the wrong way, and the erec-
tion of this building is our expression
of confidence in the future OF our ma
ton and city. The same faith that led
the company to decide in 1901 to come
hore to T'hirty-fourtii street leads US to
stay here. When that decision was
made we had no knowledge of the COM
ing OF the great Pennsylvania station.
which has. OF course. added enormously
to the importance OF TEirty-fourth
street"
Among the features of the new build
ing which will add rs feet frontage on
both streets viii be a basement and
slbbasement in which great elevators
viii whsk delivery automobiles UP and
down tn the subterranean driveways
where 80 cars may be handled at one
tirle. other great elevators and huge
canveyors will carry incoming n,er-
chandise to the reserve floors, and still
other elevators and q large escalator
svstem will handle customers. The
eighth will b. the highest floor in the
combined building to which customers
VIII go. This floor will consist of tie
lsrgest restaurant in the city. kitchens.
Sc Above it, all the way to the nine
tcenth floor, will be the multitudinous
densrtments the customer never sees or
thinks OF. devoted TO recreation. mark
ing. receiving. reserve, executive, &C.
countants. advertising. hospital. con-
troller. NAL order. bureau OF invest-
cation. training. planning, cashiers. sal
Try. laundry. and Just little breath
ing space.
Each Department Ia BE Larger.
The expansion does not mean the adj
dition of new departments or changes
in policies but merely an increase in
the size of each division. During the
last holiday season. Macy's employed an
army OF 200 persons; the l,rger store
VII need 1000. During single day
in busy holiday season more than co.
go people have passed through the
Broadway doors. The stores delivery
department handles forty or forty-five
thousand parcels in a day.
Testing pits already are being sunk
in the site. which has been owned by
Nlacy's for some years, and neSotia-
tions for the wrecking of small build
inss on il were under way yesterday.
The architects are Robert d. kohn end
his associates. and the builders Marc
Eidlitz Sons. The steel contract. COW
ering $500 tens OF steel. one of. If not
the largest of the last ten years,
already has been let.
Mr.. Koln said the new building, which
will conform with the old and form q
part of a single cdfice. will be OF
stone and terra Gotta on the four lower
floors. and OF Harvard brick and terra
Gotta from there to the top. In COM
pliance with the zoring law there will
ne "setbacks' on the thirteenth and
eighteenth floors.