Evening star., 1925-06-07
PROPERTY OWNERS MEET
BY FREDERIC ]. H4SKIN

won the decision. Both New York City
and Washington. D. c.. are taking
steps to combat the discrimination.
Survey of Vacant Space.
One of the most important things
which the association does is to make
surveys of ONCE buildings or apart.
ment houses in order to ascertain the
amount of vacant space with relation
to the number of possible tenants. In
this manner man who is considering
putting up q new building may be ad.
vfsed as to his chances for realizing on
his investment.
For instance, not so long ago 1t was
found in one city that Office buildings
have been overbuilt. A new. expensive
building was under construction and
the owner faced the likelihood of fail
ure. On the other hand owners OF
less modern buildings stood to lose a
large percentage of their tenants. All
around the situation was serious
There simply were not enough tenants
to fill all of the available Office space
A meeting was called of all the
owners of office buildings In the city
and 1t was finally agreed that each
building would give up per cent OF
its tenants to the new one. In this
manner each building was s5 per cent
d a
loss. In some cities where the under,
writing and selling of bonds on such
properties is clearly going beyond the
needs of the time, efforts will be made
70 acquaint the public with the dan.
ger of going past the satura ton point
Advice for New Owners.
Another popular and helpful branch
OF this association is the building
planning service which was inaus
urated in 1923. 1t was the direct out
come of many requests received at the
Office Of the national association ask
ing Tor criticism Of plans for pro-
posed new buildings.
The service operates in this fashion
When a request is received from some
prospective builder a committee OF
five or more men is provided the
client and his architect at a nomina
cost. These are men who are expert
enced in managing properties similar
to the one to be constructed, and are
therefore familiar with the problems
attached thereto. There is no stand
Ing committee-each building project
calling for particular knowledge ant
experience. Also the committee is Sc
lected only In consultation with the
owner.
committee the owner is asked to fur
nish set of tentative plans and also
information regarding local conditions
The members are In this way able
to make a preliminary study before
they are called together. This service
Is valuable not only to owner but
sometimes saves the architect a lot
of wasted time drafting plans which
later prove unsuitable. BY gettins
together men who have had expert
ence in every phase of managing a
building of a similar type. it is pos
sible to design the building in the
most efficient manner, and thus be
able to utilize every inch of fioo,
space. For instance, there is an of
flce building in an Eastern city which
is modern but the floor plan is sc
poor that it is practically impossible
to rent the Offices. With the aid OF
the building planning service this
might have been avoided.
This association, both in its nationa
capacity and in it's local organizations
is proving a great boon to owners OF
apartment houses, office buildings anc
business properties. 1t conducts, re
search and makes available to its
members the results to the end tina,
they are able to put their properties
on an efficiency basis and not rur
them in hit or miss fashion. Th,
tenants benefit by receiving better
service. 1t is one more example of the
tendency of the age to do everything
in the best possible way and to the
best interests of all.