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COMMISSIONERS OF THE SINKING FUND OF THE

CITY OF NEW YORK.

Proceedings of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, at a Meeting Held in Room 16, City Hall, at 230 o'clock p. m., on Friday, April 25, 1902.

Present-Seth Low, Mayor; Edward M. Grout, Comptroller; Elgin R. L. Gould, Chamberlain; Charles V. Fornes, President, Board of Aldermen, and Herbert Parsons, Chairman, Finance Committee, Board of Aldermen.

The Comptroller presented the following reports of the Engineer of the Department of Finance, and communications relative to the application of the Subway Realty Company for permission to construct and maintain a vault under East Forty-first street at Park avenue, Borough of Manhattan:

Hon. EDWARD M. GROUT, Comptroller:

March 21, 1902.

SIR-By resolution adopted by the Board of Aldermen on March 11, 1902, approved by the Mayor on March 18, 1902:

Resolved, That permission be and the same hereby is given to the Subway Realty Company and its asigns, to construct and maintain a vault under East Forty-first street, in the Borough of Manhattan, adjacent to the said Subway Realty Company's property, to be hounded on the north by the northerly curb line and on the south by the centre of Forty-first street, and to extend from the westerly curb line on Park avenue to the westerly line of said company's property; also a vault situated beyond the curb line on Park avenue adjacent to the company's property, to be bounded on the west by the westerly curb line of Park avenue as extended to the centre of Forty-first street; on the south by the centre line of Forty-first street, and on the east and north by the westerly retaining wall of the rapid transit tunnel, which is to be situated in Park avenue, as appears more fully by the accompanying diagram, on payment of such fee as shall be deemed an adequate compensation by the Sinking Fund Commission, the work to be done at the expense of the Subway Realty Company or its assigns, under the direction of the President of the Borough of Manhattan; such permission to continue only during the pleasure of the Board of Aldermen.

In reply would report that the space occupied by the proposed vault outside of the curb line on Forty-first street and Park avenue is 2,422 2-10 square feet (see accompanying sketch; and I think a fair charge for so extensive a vault would be $4,000 per annum for the privilege, and $800 for opening the street and avenue.

Respectfully,

CHANDLER WITHINGTON,
Principal Assistant Engineer.

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COPY OF MAP SUBMITTED BY THE SUBWAY REALTY COMPANY.

Ove.

SUBWAY REALTY COMPANY,

No. 23 NASSAU STREET,
NEW YORK, April 8, 1902.

Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York:

GENTLEMEN-A resolution was adopted by the Board of Aldermen of The City of New York on March 11, 1902, approved by his Honor the Mayor on March 18, 1902, of which the following is a copy:

Resolved, That permission be and the same hereby is given to the Subway Realty Company and its assigns to construct and maintain a vault under East Forty-first street, in the Borough of Manhattan, adjacent to the said Subway Realty Company's property, to be bounded on the north by the northerly curb line and on the south by the centre of Forty-first street, and to extend from the westerly curb line on Park avenue to the westerly line of the said company's property; also a vault, situated beyond the curb line on Park avenue, adjacent to the company's property, to be bounded on the west by the westerly curb line of Park avenue, as extended to the centre of Forty-first street; on the south by the centre line of Forty-first street and on the east and north by the westerly retaining wall of the Rapid Transit tunnel, which is to be situated in Park avenue, as appears more fully by the accompanying diagram, on payment of such fee as shall be deemed an adequate compensation by the Sinking Fund Commission, the work to be done at the expense of the Subway Realty Company or its assigns, under the direction of the President of the Borough of Manhattan; such permission to continue only during the pleasure of the Board of Aldermen.

I am informed that such resolution has been transmitted to you for the fixing of compensation for the privilege thereby granted, that the matter has been submitted to your Engineer for examination and that he, having examined the matter, has recommended that compensation be fixed at $4,000 per annum.

I desire very respectfully to suggest that this figure is excessive and in support of my view of the matter to point out the following facts:

I submit herewith detailed drawing marked “A," showing the method proposed to be adopted in constructing the vaults pursuant to this authorization, in connection with the hotel building, which is in process of erection upon the property at the southwest corner of Forty-second street and Park avenue, running through to Forty-first

street.

On July 22, 1901, the Subway Realty Company caused a proposition to be made to the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners through Mr. Douglas Robinson, offering to convey to The City of New York an easement for the purposes of the rapid transit railroad, under construction pursuant to the contract between the city and John B. McDonald, for a consideration of $150,000. The said company also authorized Mr. Robinson to state that it would be willing to accept $125,000 instead of $150,000 for the easement to be conveyed to the city, as above stated, if the city should grant to said company the use of the space under the sidewalk in Forty-first street and to the middle of said Forty-first street, and under the sidewalk and as far as the retaining wall of the Rapid Transit tunnel in Park avenue, as shown by the red lines upon the chart or plan accompanying Mr. Robinson's letter, and also the use of the portion under the surface of Fourth avenue and between the top of the tunnel and sidewalk, indicated by

the hatched blue lines on the same chart, the use of these spaces being made a condition to the granting of the easement to the city. Mr. Robinson recommended this arrangement as advantageous to the city, stating,

"The granting of the rights to use such space will save the city a considerable sum of money, as I believe the amount usually charged by the city for vault privileges in a corresponding space would be much less than $25,000."

A copy of Mr. Robinson's letter is spread upon the minutes (page 1254) of a meeting of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners of July 25, 1901, a printed copy of which is handed to you herewith, together with a copy of the chart reerred to in his letter, marked "B."

The matter was referred to counsel of the Rapid Transit Board, who reported upon it in the terms of a letter which is also printed in said minutes (page 1255) of the same date, in which they recommend that the arrangement, if the substance were approved by the Board, should be substantially that the Subway Realty Company should execute a deed to the city of the easement aforesaid for a price to be fixed, the deed providing that a certain proportion of it should be at once payable by the city, and that the remainder should not be payable if within a prescribed period, as for instance, three months, the city should grant a license to use for vault and area purposes the space colored red and blue upon the map accompanying Mr. Douglas Robinson's letter, or thereafter permit such use, but that such remainder should become payable without interest whenever thereafter the city should revoke such license.

On Sepember 27, 1901, a committee of the Rapid Transit Board reported that in its opinion the sum of $140,000 was a fair price to be paid for said easement, whereupon a resolution was adopted approving such report and directing the officers of the Board to execute the necessary agreement with the owners of the said premises as outlined in the opinion of counsel dated July 23, 1901, above referred to. I also hand you a printed copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners of September 27, 1901, in which this action appears. (See page 1288.)

Subsequently a discussion arose as to certain other features suggested to accompany the grant of said easement, but on March 21, 1901, a resolution of the Board was adopted requesting the counsel of the Board to procure the execution of an agreement with the Subway Realty Company in accordance with the resolution of September 27, 1901, above referred to.

In the meantime, the Highway Department of The City of New York in December last granted to the Subway Realty Company the right to construct the vaults desired under so much of the adjacent streets as lay inside the curb line in Forty-first street, Park avenue and Forty-second street, upon payment of the sum of $15,005, that being at the rate of about $1.50 per square foot for the space in Forty-first street and Park avenue and about $2 per square foot in the space in Forty-second street. This payment to be made once for all, and not as an annual payment.

Subsequently, the Board of Aldermen adopted the resolution to which I referred in the beginning of this letter. It was my understanding in making the proposal to the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners to convey to the city an easement under the property in question for the purpose of the Rapid Transit Railroad, that the $25,000 deducted from the price fixed for the value of such easement was to be a com

pensation to the city for the grant of the vault privileges asked, and upon such understanding this company offered to consent to such deduction on the terms above indicated. The company did not object to the payment of the relatively small charge imposed by the Department of Highways for the vault privileges under the sidewalks, as above described, and it would make no serious objection to a like payment for the remainder of the vault space, although, as I have stated, any charge is contrary to the spirit of the agreement upon which payment for the easement is imposed.

In addition to the facts above set forth, I beg leave to call your attention also to the following:

The plot of land now owned by the Subway Realty Company at Park avenue and Forty-second street was purchased from the New York Central Railroad, under an agreement with the said railroad that a first-class hotel should be erected by the Subway Realty Company upon such plot of land, and for the purpose of securing the performance of such agreement the railroad company exacted from the realty company a bond in the sum of $250,000, conditioned for the erection of such a hotel. Pursuant to such agreement, a contract for the erection of the hotel has already been entered into with Messrs. Marc Eidlitz & Son, and these gentlemen, at my request, sent me a letter, dated January 20, 1902, a copy of which is hereto annexed, in which they point out that the taking by the city of the easement for the purpose of the Rapid Transit Railroad will actually throw upon the realty company an additional burden in the way of additional cost of construction, amounting to the sum of $122,833.

On January 28, 19c2, I transmitted such letter to the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners, together with a letter of my own, in which I demonstrated that the taking of the easement above referred to, even upon the terms agreed upon, would result in an actual money loss to the Realty Company of the sum of $22,833, and in my letter to the Rapid Transit Board I asked that the Commissioners should authorize to be paid for extra work to our contractors the sum of $21,000. I also annex hereto a copy of my letter to the Commissioners.

The Commissioners replied to my letter, in a letter dated March 21, 1902, which is also hereto annexed, in which it was stated that my application was denied.

With respect to the taking of the easement, therefore, the matter still shows an actual loss imposed by additional cost of construction to the Subway Realty Company of the amount above mentioned-viz., $22,833, to say nothing of the loss of the easement itself.

Further, I beg leave to direct your attention to a comparison between the sum which the city, through the Rapid Transit Board, agrees to pay the Subway Realty Company for the easement and the amount which your Engineer recommends that the company should pay for the privilege of constructing its vaults. The area taken for the easement is included within the letters I. E. D. F. G. H. upon the small diagram pieparel by Messrs. Marc Eidlitz & Son, which I submit herewith, marked "C." The diagram above referred to, marked “A,” shows a cross-section of the area above mentioned and shows that practically the whole of such area is to be taken by the city, only a very small vault badly interfered with by girders remaining to the Realty Company, the area covered by red hatched lines in diagram "A" corresponding to the area covered by hatched lines in pencil in diagram "C," and showing just the purposes to which it was

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