Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-04
n. Y. Central
ReaItyCaIIed
Pot Of Gold

NEW YORK, July 4 B.-A
pot Of gold may lie buried deep
in the resources of the New York
Central Railroad.
Robert r. Young. its chair
man thinks it does. He sees the
vast real estate holdings Of the
line, particularly in New York,
as q mine Of undeveloped wealth.
Mr.. Young referred to these
real estate holdings as "a veri-
table pot of gold" at the recent
annual stockholders meeting of
the Central. He outlined his
hopes for part Of the area to
stockholders.
One Of the systems best known
divisions is the Grand Central
Park avenue. Around the turn
Of the century the roads tracks
were on the surface along Park
avenue. They branched out to
cover q three-block area in
width and an eight-block area
in length approaching Grand
Central.
Slum Area Erased
This was q slum area. Deaths
at the street crossings caused
the city to force the Central to
put its tracks underground.
This meant substituting electric
for steam locomotives.
With that accomplished, the
area blossomed. Fashionable
Park avenue grew out of a slum.
In this area the Central or its
subsidiary, the New York and
Harlem, owns the land on which
many famous buildings are situ-
ated.
This includes the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel, the Commodore
Hotel, the Yale Club, the Roose-
welt Hotel. the Graybar Build
ing, six Office buildings and four
apartment buildings. The Gen.
trail also owns and operates in
this area the Biltmore, Barclay
and Park Lane Hotels.
Central Leases Land
What has happened is this:
The Central has leased its land
and the tenant has erected the
buildings. In several cases the
Central-in addition to the three
hotels it owns-also has an in
vestment in the buildings.
Leases are based on q per-
centage of the fair value of the
land and run for 81 years. They
may be renewed at not less than
the rent previously paid. Even
tually, these leases will run out
and the Central will get owner
ship of most of the buildings.
The total assessed valuation
of the Centrars investment in
the Grand Central-Park avenue
area is sos million, but its ac-
tual market value, of course, is
much higher.
New Haven Has Share
The Grand Central Terminal
itself is a potential building site.
It's a magnificent station. But
it costs $24 million a year to
operate and the revenue it pro-
duceS falls short of that. Plans
to build a giant. income produc-
ing Office building over Grand
Central have not yet jelled.
But there is another railroad
the New York, New Haven
and Hartford-in the picture.
This road also uses Grand Gen.
trail. Both the Central and the
New Haven share the Grand
Central's deficit. And the New
Haven disputes the Central's real
estate ownership. The New
Haven says:
1.-THE New Haven railroad has
an undivided one-half interest
in all of the real estate located
in what is known as the rail-
road terminal area, which lies
between Forty-second street and
Fifty-second street and Madi-
son and Lexington avenues"
The legal questions raised by
the New Haven's contention may
eventually have to be settled in
the courts.
City Within City
On another of its New York
holdings-the Thirtieth street
freight yards close by the Lin
coin Tunnel to New JerSey-the
road is developing plans for con-
structing "a city within a CITY,"
This project emissions Office
buildings. television station, a
monumental MALL" the largest
urban parking facility in the
country. a permanent worlds
fair" type merchandise mart, a
moving belt connecting with the
city's transit system and a TV-
Rntenna observation tower
which which would be the tallest
structure in the city.
OF course, these are hopes
rather than realities. To COM
plete the plans it is necessary
to bring together capital invest
ment, building constructors,
tenants and similar essentials.
When this happens, the Gen.
trail will be mining the poten-
tial gold in its real estate.