Il -: . Construction Costs Will Remain High Sensational Undertakings Were the Feature Alwyn Court ; UntilBreakComes in Commodity Prices Of Construction in This City Last Year At Seventh Avej way in war-time construction. We Corner Sold Will Be Years Until Prices Are learned how to standardize our work. Adjusted We learned the secret of quantity buy¬ to a Lower ing and quantity production and the Level; Pre-War Schedules most economical method of handling Twelve-Story Flat at our materials. We are now applying 58ifc Are Gone Forev Cost Plus Con¬ these methods to our work on Street, With Two er; account. private Suit* tract Best at In the face of the vital emergency to Floor, Building Basis Present of war and confronted by problems Bought ty vastly greater and, more complicated the Gier,well than we had ever dreamed of, it was necessary to change our methods and Compaq By John C. Hegeman contractor would dictate that he would to adopt or invent others. Some mis¬ do the work as cheaply as possible, and takes President Hefreman-Harria Com¬ the cost of the must necessarily have been made difference between the by all, but as the result of such mis¬ pany, Inc., Builders, New York work and his contract was his profit. takes and the unparalleled experiences Sales of Business The The cheaper he could do it the more obtained we are enabled to before Realty question that is asked many his profit was. The owner and the ar¬ place times a prospective owners for their benefit day of every architect and chitect were ranged against him to ob¬ methods of building far better than builder is, "Are building costs coming tain as much out of him for their own have obtained in the Other Max Natan son side as possible. In such a situation paBt. Parts With down, and if so, when ?" The demand is it to building companies which engaged in urgent, and to those interested a is easy imagine the constant bick¬ war work had similar and it is and which arose. Some¬ experiences, Eleveu-Story Loft Build, uestion uppermost in their minds, ering disputes as a result the building industry to¬ The answer, addressed to busi¬ times the contractor estimated too low is more efficient more in East 20th every or met unusual day and compe¬ ing Stree4 ness man. is: Building cost3 will come conditions and suffered tent to solve the problems of the in¬ disastrous losses. < In such a down at the same time, or, perhaps a situation dividual building operation than it ever tittle earlier, than the cost of products the quality of the building necessarily has been before. handled by you will come down. If you suffered. In conclusion, therefore, I would Alwyn Court, twelve stories, at tè» can estimate when the costs of your Advantage of Cost-plus Plan say that, though costs at the present j southeast corner of Seventh \venw own raw material, or your own lahorv time are high, I do not consider that and Fifty-eighth has charges or own expenses of The Great War changed these con¬ will be lower in the next few Street, just b»«i doing,) ditions for the better. When the they sold by Edgar & for business will come down, you can, with years. If the prospective owner's re¬ Orean Feinberg tb( fair accuracy, approximate the arrival United States government began its quirements are sufficiently urgent to Company, Inc., Frank Hughe* of the day that building costa will be¬ vast building program it very quickly pay the present costs, I can rec¬ president The new owner Is the gin to descend toward the levels of that developed that tho lump sum form of ommend that he only nell Gr*. distant not proceed immediately, Company, represented by H. B. D». happy day, known as "pre¬ contract would prove very efficient and as compensation for the additional .-, vin. The war times,'' which I consider are gone! or economical. The government offi¬ high costs there is to be considered selling company acquired tU and will be forever forgotten. cials decided, after due consideration, the closer relationship between the property at auction in January, ipj» Why should bnilding costs come to award contracts on some form of owner and the and his as iñ down when prices of all other indus¬ basis. builder, greater to plaintiff foreclosure proceed^-.. "cost-plus" responsibility to the owner, together $2,800,000,000 It represents a tries are leaping upward day by day? The basic idea of the cost-plus con¬ with the greater which the syndicate of bondhola There is no to tract is efficiency Be Invested in ers which foreclosed the second the mysterious exception sound, The interest of the builder has developed through his ex¬ New mort- building business which warrants owner and architect not being ranged periences, in war work. All of which gag«. any one to expect that the cost of against the contractor, as under the tends to offset the This Year building may be down while all comparatively high Buildings Alwyn Court is on a plot 125x100. New York City total $269,767,000. 68x65. plot fix with. The own Holdings To Be Given Residence« demand for their goods at ing for his interest.that his build- (15,197) including dwell¬ Natanson Sells any price was never so strong. ing will be built at less cost in shorter to and Charities ings, apartment houses dormitories Loft In their own business they know time and with a higher degree and Colleges j and hotels, $149,4i.3,000; manufac¬ J,-. The Nomar Realty Companv (Vax Na¬ that rising costs must be reckoned quality of workmanship than by any turing buildings (302), $25,847,000; tanson, president) has sold io the Msn- with; but these same men, when they! other method of doing the work. Every miscellaneous (2241), $94,467,000. port Realty Company (I. Portniaii come to the architect or builder, expect individual building contract is a prob¬ The first big auction sale this year, I president) the eleven-storv loft build- to be different. out in- in itself. In these times as never and one of the ever held in Forward at .39 East things They cry lem the largest Looking ing Twentieth Street, on a dignantly when they study the esti-! before, in any building operation, upon Vesey Street salesroom, will take lot 25x100. The structure was eulfj. for mates of cost on their proposed new! the part of the builder are required, place on Tuesday, January 20, when Not in Anticipation all cash over a mortgago of $110 000 building, and not decide a most careful the valuable New York City 16-Story Building "The outlook for 1920 for sub¬ Max Cohen and I. infrequently first, preliminary plan¬ properties Henry Cooper wer» to wait "until building costs cornel ning as to the method of doing the owned by the late Mrs. Margaret Olivia For Seventh urban and country homes is both in¬ the brokers. down." work, and, second, the most careful Slocum Sage, wife of the late Russell Ave. teresting and puzzling. There is no Sale in Greene Str«wt We have heard these decisions in the following up of details of purchases Sage, financier, will be offered to the question about the demand, but The Lebertan *arly spring. We have heard them and details of work to secure the best highest bidder, And 35th St. Corner brokers' shelves are relatively bare, Corporation has bought the summer. We are results. Mrs. under hence from Pauline Meyers, Leah S. through hearing Sage, the terms of her they look forward with mixed and Louis S. Brush, 125 Greene King them to-day. The costs have not come The great objection in the minds of will, left the entire residue of her es¬ Builders feeling rather than lively Street Overcome Cost anticipa¬ a In owners tate to be divided- five-story and basement atore ani down the building business any prospective upon doing work among thirty-six by tion. New construction proceeds as loft C. S. more have in It i. institutions. building. Moore was the than they any other. upon the cost-plus-percentage basis The residuary estate, James F. Ogden, Music Roll rapidly as the material and labor broker for the sellers. is interesting to know, as a matter of' the idea that the contractor will run which is estimated to be worth $40,- markets permit, but the work under that the cost of is not the cost of the in order is to be Construction can Estate Sells Old fact, building up building 000,060, divided into fifty-two Manufacturer, to Erect "Gingerbread^ way furnish no appreciable re¬ Boildlng keeping pace with the costs of other that his percentage fee may be cor¬ shares and distributed in varying pro¬ lief. In other words, the housing William Cruikshank's Sons and Cam- necessities of life. Statistics show respondingly increased. If the condi¬ portions among the institutions named Structure, Part of Which situation in the Ridgewood section mann, Voorhees & Floyd havo sold for that whereas building coats have risen tions in the selection of a contractor in the will. The Sage Foundation will of New Jersey is extremely acute the estates of Daniel Edgar amj New-*. 116 per cent since 1012, the average of which I have pointed out above are receive seven of the fifty-two shares. Expert Reminds Folks, That There Is No Use and the spring homeseeker will find bold Edgar to the Markham Rcal'y. twenty-six necessities of life shows an met with, this could not be true, as Company Will himself a very man if he waits Clarence W. increase of 123 cent. It is not for Colleges to Share Occupy the busy Company, Eckhardt, presi¬ per ordinary business practise would dic¬ Evading Issue; Good Houses Cost till spring. Truly the early bird dent, 108 Washington Street, n on*- me to prophesy when our well ad¬ tate that the owner's interests be pro¬ The institutions that will be bene¬ Money; will have cause for on of liv¬ fited from the self-congratula¬ story stable a lot 23.4x8S.S. This is vertised friend, "The high cost tected when so served. The thought, sale are: James F. Ogden, president of the AÎ- ! Skimpy Is Not Fair to the tion. S. S, WALSTRUM, the first sale of the property in 80 ing," will be reduced. When it does, however, oftentimes remains. To meet The Sage Foundation, Women's Hos¬ Buiicling Buyer "President S. S. Walstrum-Gordon & years. I know that building costs will be re¬ this thought, the cost-plus-fixed-fee pital in the State of New toona Music Roll Company, has leased Forman." and not before. form has Women's Board York, from the estate of East 21st Street Realty Sold duced, of contract been devised, of Foreign Missions of Anna Loughran F. these alone, can the cost of ' Mr. Walstrum's summary of sub¬ If the desire or necessity for a new which, to my mind, is the fairest of the Presbyterian Church, the State Daly, John R. & By Charles Neergaard be- production urban Horace S. Ely & Company have »olíj arises I would most all forms for all Charities Aid through Oscar L. minimized, and a "quality" house conditions, though applicable for Mrs. Margaret E. 203-20E building certainly concerned. Under Association, New York Foley and J. Arthur the President, Garden City Development produced at a reasonable to this particular field of operation, Munson, recommend that, steps 'be taken to start this form of contract the owner agrees Presbyterian Hospital, New York In¬ Fischer, prop-! figure. be as a East Twenty-first Street, a thrce-story; erty at 464, 466, 468 Seventh Corporation Coincident, therefore, with tho or¬ might accepted concise view on lot the work as soon as possible. to pay the builder a certain definite firmary for Women and Children, New 4¿2, Ave¬ of of the entire suburban mar¬ building 47x120, and have resold' fixed sum for his for work York Bible New nue and 209-11 West From the real estate news the ganization the Garden City Develop¬ realty the property to the Willis Com-, Lamp Sum Contract Is Not Best profit doing Society, York Public Thirty-fifth angle ment we ket. Pipe regardless of what the building costs. Library, New York Botanical Garden, Street, being the northwest corner of announcement made last that Corporation, contracted with pany, who will make extensive improve¬ Should the owner of the proposed New York Seventh Avenue and August, the Hegeman-Harris Company to erect ments. decido to a of Form Fixes Builder's Profit University, Yale, Princeton, Thirty-fifth the Garden City Estates residential our first unit of building proceed study Williams College, Amherst, Street, a plot 85x100, covered with six all twenty-five new houses, the forms of contract according to If cost of Dartmouth, colony in Nassau County, L. I., had of which are in course of comple¬ his be built the the actual building op¬ Barnard, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, five-story buildings. tion now and sold which building might erations is either more or the con¬ Bryn Mawr Univer¬ The term of the lease is sixty-three been acquired in its entirety by the being from the would he most advantageous to him. less, colleges, Syracuse years, and the plans. A few the tractor will obtain the same fee. All of sity, Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y.; aggregate net rental for Garden City Development Corporation, The personnel of years ago building business, us know in making our daily purchases, Troy Polytechnic Institute, Union Col¬ the term is said to be $2,500,000. this, and our own to the average prospective owner, was from bread to lege, Mr. Ogden intends to demolish the was interesting. organization includes men of high that ranging automobiles, Schenectady; Troy Female Semi¬ standing, all of whom are something mysterious.something that each article contains a certain nary, Hampton Institute, present buildings and erect, on the site Of far greater importance, however, experienced could not be understood by the lay Notarial Tuskegee a mercantile in real estate and building. This is definite fixed profit to the manufactur¬ and Industrial Institute, Board sixteen-Htory building, was the additional announcement that additional assurance mind. The ordinary procedure was er, which was determined after of Home Missions of the part of which will bo used for offices that the present to the services of an architect only Presbyterian and showrooms the newly organized corporation would high character of Garden «engage the article had been manufactured and Church in the United States of Amer¬ for his own com¬ erect a of City Estates and after the plans were drawn have its cost ica (women's panies. immediately number high will be maintained and that with the to obtain esti¬ absolutely fixed. There is no executive committee), grade residences, to be sold for less growth of the to him send out broadcast objection from any one to pay this Presbyterian Board of Relief for Dis¬ than colony larger propor¬ mates as to the cost of doing the work. manufacturer's The abled Ministers $20,000 each. tions values there will advance to high¬ to profit. builder and the Widows and Two This acquirement of one of the larg¬ er levels. Without regard the problem cover¬ must make a profit in the same way in Orphans of Deceased Chil¬ Fine Apartments his work a contract is Ministers, est and best developed residential colo¬ In addition, there is the assurance ing special order to continue, and by paying this dren's Aid Society, Charity Organiza¬ nies In the suburban section of New of the well finally entered into with the builder fixed profit the owner is buying the ser¬ tion Society, American Bible Planned for West Side informed that building to build his bnilding for a certain fixed of the builder his Society, York, together with the announcement costs and house prices are "up to vices for interests, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American of an active came stay," and uhless sum known as the "lump sum con¬ first and all the time, and not his sec¬ Museum of Natural building campaign, cannot, existing con¬ tract," History and New to just at a time when many persons were ditions are sharply revised, be further ondary interest, as under the old lump York City Mission and Tract Society. Campagna Is Build 9 Stories seeking to purchase permanent reduced.. It scarcely seems necessary now to sum form of contract. The properties to be sold are homes, of located on West 75th St. With V. in preference to continuing as apart¬ point out the disadvantages this There Is another factor in the build¬ in some of New .York's principal thor¬ and, ment tenants at constantly increasing Labor and Capital Agree form of contract. Under it the owner ing industry which war work developed. oughfares, including Fifth Park a on and architect were the I to Avenue, Cerabone, House 146thSt. and abnormally high rentals. The "fly in tho ointment" of those r&uged against refer increased efficiency. Build¬ Avenue, Madison Avenue, Lexington This news came also at a time when who in the recent builder. The selfish interest of the ers learned how to do things in a big Avenue, Riverside Drive, Central Park Anthony Campagna, builder, will past wished to build hotiHO builders and home seekers had but who dared not because of the un¬ West and West 125th Street. In addi¬ soon start the erection of a nine-story about arrived at the that the certainties of tion there are a number of deoision the labor and wage situ¬ parcela apartment house on the south side of present high cost of is a con¬ ation located in various side streets on the building disappeared recently with the East Seventy-fifth Street oetween Broad¬ dition they must be prepared to face agreement on a wage and work scale and West sides. The properties for a come. reached A Christmas Eve Purchase embrace business elevator way and West End Avenue. The long time to by the labor union., the Em¬ buildings, House Owners Can Name Price ployers' Associations and Councils. apartment houses and one of the most plot, covering an area of 60x100 feet, This pact fixed the valuable block fronti? in Riverside wan This condition has been emphasized wages and hours assembled some time ago through of labor tor the year 1920, which is fi Drive now available for improvement. Slawsou & Hobbs, and the for since July 1 by the increase of ap¬ in the Several valuable corners and resi¬ the plans proximately SO per cent in the cost of big step right direction. project are being prepared by If combined with a little more effi¬ dences in Long Island City and in George F. Polham, architect. building, and the end is not yet in ciency, the gre_.tr production the Central Avenue section of Far The will sight. Prices, in fact, arn almost cer¬ quickei and in building contain suites of tain to to levels. The delivery and downward revision of the Rockaway private dwellings three and four spacious room. Care¬ go higher buyer price of materials, the agreement be¬ Cedarhurst, L. V, are included in the ful thought has been to all the of to-day will be the seller of to-mor¬ tween the sale. given row at a substantial unions and the employer! needs and requirements that go to profit. That profit should be productive of a amoun' One of the Fifth Avenue properties make a modern is absorbed, however, when it comee of large is the «leven-story loft at apartment, and the time to reinvest in another house. Sell¬ building activity during the nev> 73 building problem of soundproofing, which 's year. Fifth Avenue, northeast corner of one of the thorns in most multi- ers are fortunate, indeed, if they "break Final of the Fifteenth Street; aiiother the former even" on their purchasers. analysis work and wag« of family houses, has been met in a scale adopted and a of cona¬ residence Mrs. Sage, at 604 Fifth and efficient manner So few In number ar* the houses to study Avenue, a and practical by plac¬ he tions in the material market lend bu four-story basement ing lines of closets U.tween adjoining lot that renting practically is a small encouragement to the brick dwelling, on plot 80x100, and apartments. dead issue. The owners of houses are tion expecta the leasehold a that dwelling houses will be low property, fivo-story The house will be for occu¬ in a position, therefore, to demand al¬ .¦rod in elevator building, at 632 Fifth Ave¬ ready most price by the activities of th» pancy next fall. Mr. Campagna has any price within reason. Ever future, due to the ii nue, opposite the Cathedral. Other also, together with under these conditions there are com¬ improvement offerings are the five at Victor Cerabone, few conditions.,, dwellings purchased for improvement the north¬ paratively houses available. It is all a of the northeast corner of Madison Ave¬ east corner of How has tho builder met the question "supply am Riverside Drive and average demand," and the demand is o nue and Sixty-fourth Street; the va¬ 146th arisen from ar to-day cant Street, and associated with situatiçjn high costs, such huge proportions as to affect th block front in Riverside Drive, them in this will abnormal demand and an inadequate from 109th to 110th street; the two ele¬ and enterprise be Michael possibility of the supply being in vator Armin© Campagna. This plot was supply? creased for at least a decade in a? apartments at 422 and 424 Cen¬ held for the laBt Some amount tral Park West, northwest comer forty-Bix years by Builders Have Skimped sufficient to bring it abreas of John Brown, one of the oldest real In instances he of the demand. 102d Street: the five-story apartments eatate investors of many has adopted This is at the southeast corner of Park Ave¬ Washington the policy of sacrificing tho quality of the only logical and tru nue and Heights. the materials, the the deco¬ answer to the question "when will th Ninety-eighth Street and the Work will be started at onee equipment, of five five-story apartments at the north¬ sito for on this rations and the workmanship that go to price suburban dwellings be low west an apartment house similar a ered?" corner of Lexington Avenue and to the one just produce suburban home of "quality,' 100th Strwt; two store tenements at completed by Anthony one that is fit to be occupied by per¬ Higher Rents Are 46 and 47 West 125th Campagna and Joseph Paterno at the sons of who ir Coming Street, between opposite corner, which was the first discriminating taste, Residents of New and in fac Fifth and Lenox avenues; the six five- apartment house | purchasing a permanent homo seel other York, at erected in Manhat¬ comfort and of nol every city, town and villag story dwellings 118, 116, 117, 12» tan after tho war, and a safety investment, wherever located, must, J 37 West a very success¬ "gingerbread" effects or construction become recor Fifty-fourth Street, garage ; ful operation. In ciled to the great change in condition Ninety-third Street, a five-story ffat; This family of builders, the pioneers following out this policy he ha« that has taken place. must b 117 West Fifty-fourth Street, a garage; of not neglected to avail himself of th< to They 515 and 617 West fireproof apartments on tho West to revise his list prepared pay higher rents, an between Seventy-sixth Street, Side, arc among the first to produce opporunity price higher prices for their abodes, just e Avenue A and John Jay new apartment houses and face the upward. "Jones pays the freight." have become reconciled to Park, a 60-foot vacant plot; 108, 107 high costs and the Not Garden higherthey prices for food payln and 109 East 100th and tremendous diffi¬ City Way products, art Street, three culties in labor and materials. Garden City Estatus, eotablishec cles of clothing, objects of ar five-story tenements, between Park and twelve diamonds, and all the list n< Lexington avenues. years ago on a sure and Am cessitieB long of Cash for Bronx foundation, is its own best protectioi and luxuries they deei Good Speculative Property Apartment against the bad effects of the adoptioi necessary to their individual comfor "The Sage estate sale," Mr. said of any ¡tuch building It woul< and to the maintenance of their st¡ "is the Day Investor Purchases a Corner bo suicidal for policy. tion in society. yesterday, first big and impor¬ any builder to er«»c It is, tant offering of the year 1020. The House on other than a "quality" house there however, withiâ the provln« salo, to out the Grand Boulevard where the 200 or of every man to at least exert a ce carry magnificent be¬ more residence tain amount of quests made by the late Mrs. Russell Richard H. Scoble hus rosold for erected during tho last twelve years control over his e: Sage, will benefit many of the most Adolph von Oehsen to a client for cash nnd practically all occupied thei penditures. the northwest corner of Grand aro of an by With the idea in view of aidlr prominent educational and charitable vard and Boule¬ owners, order to challeng institutions in America, and reflects the Concourse and 184th Street, comparison with those of any otho prospective home buyers to do this, v fine character and the heart of a five-story apartment, three stores, on suburban re?ldentlal are prepared to sell sites of great America's kindly plot, 62x92. community. Th varying cost, at Garden most noble and philanthropic physical attributes of the colony ar who City Estate woman. Sarouel Cowen has sold 128 Alexan¬ equally as fine and honest. It is thi to those prefor to build Iioub "In view of the character of the late der Avenue, a four-story store build¬ combination that places from the designs of their own arch TMe I» the) Unite«! States Express at the northwest corner ing, to a Mr. Garden Cit tects, and which It is Building, j Mrs. Sage, it is highly probable that Tho Pagano. Estates quite in a class by itself. our purpose of Rector Street and Trinity Place, bought on Christmas Eve Elias A. she indulged in as little rent Frangella Realty Company has There is but one way, help them finance, and to build at by nu raiqlng sold for Mrs. T. to however, li considerable In Cohen, aa president of the Street possible. It is altogether likely that Lynch Mrs. M. which the cost of producing saving cost. Every d g^8^^^^^^«^^ Broadway-John Corporation. It waa the to be Hold are Shandclman tho three-family house at houses can bo "quality tail of the work will be attended properties rented tit! 780 East minimized. ' The ahora »-.portad then that the structure was held in the market at $5,000,000 the present time for less than 180th Street; for Charles This can be accomplished by our organisation,-the owner Imvii illustration raprasanta tha building which the Fred F« their market half; Dietrich to M. Dolgin the by en only to turn tho key in tho door whi French onA the rental derived (rom the twenty-three-story structure was $610,000. value. This, of course, Is house nt 615 two-family operating closely with an experience Company, but!der. and engineers, plana to erect, chiefly for th» the sort of the Oak Tree place, and for and tho'house is completed and the groun hrms own !t that the announcement of the real estate opportunity speculator William to fully equippod organization o occupancy, at the northwest corner of Avenue a»« «Urrelope folks in the deal over- in real estate thoroughly appreciates, the Malarky Francesco dAmlco houso builders, an organization tha landscaped. Madison etatad tha valwa of the property and the Income and the outlook, is for active two-family house at 775 Blast 183d pays cash for its materials In these two huildii Forty.firet Street. Tha property was the builders several yearly from the structure, therefore, Street. ment and equip houses ourselves, andways.by bought by lutawft Jeme* W. treasurer of tha bidding on the day of sale, eep«»elally J. Clarence and that buys direct from th by building weeks «go through Lawrence, Blake 4 and .* Smyth, United State» Express Com- as estate not a Darles has sold for Cot* producers in order, for others.we believe wo c Jewell, the improvement properties dealt in fer nalla 8. Dean and 1089 sufficiently large quant) best servo the tfca alta will be undertaken pany, «ay» that tha» building sold for $3,725,000 and tha* tha rant fata» long term of years «re generally eon- 198 other« College ties to make it an object to sell t interests of congest« j.t aa soon aa il wilt be possible 1er tltf ceded «to be the «J veal Avenu«, feet north of líoth Street them. The «tame despairing New York, and in a mai French company te atarted. wee mm* ee a__*eh «u» $#10 o±jem*m »plum* tk# esv a throo-family briek twaae, on lo« 80 organisation must en uro, add to tha at, «at Tha owner will occupy the upper Beet* ".'"" t»U market.'* ¦et-L p!Ä .?*? .*¦. highest class «nd mo« présent lamentai .f the #. efleiea* labor. By these inadequate supply of "quaHijr* hooi proposed «tsmatura. itia «indenteod that a financial institut»*», methods» «a to» **i¡_*__-y* ía-És. wül haut, fjh» at.% __¦__..» « _^