Borough of Queens; the rental to be at the rate of $1,000 per annum and the lease to extend from July 1, 1904, to July 1, 1907. A true copy. EUGENE W. SCHEFFER, Secretary. Approved for renewal, upon the same terms and conditions as in present existing lease. JULY 19, 1904. MORTIMER J. BROWN, Appraiser of Real Estate in Charge of Bureau. In connection therewith the Comptroller offered the following resolution: 66 Resolved, That the Comptroller be and is hereby authorized and directed to execute a renewal of the lease to the City, from Elizabeth Bernhard, of the second floor, consisting of four rooms, of the building known as 'Bernhard's Court," located at Nos. 372 and 374 Fulton street, Jamaica, Borough of Queens, for the use of the Department of Health, for a term of three years from July 1, 1904, at an annual rental of one thousand dollars ($1,000), payable quarterly; otherwise upon the same terms and conditions as contained in the existing lease-the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund deeming the said rent fair and reasonable and that it would be for the interests of the City that such lease be made. Which was unanimously adopted. The following communication was received from the Department of Health relative to a renewal of the lease of premises at No. 108 West Fifty-fifth street, in the Borough of Manhattan: NEW YORK, July 15, 1904. N. TAYLOR PHILLIPS, Esq., Secretary, Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: DEAR SIR-Inclosed herewith you will find copies of resolutions adopted by the Board of Health at its meeting held July 13, 1904, requesting the Honorable the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to consent to the renewal of the leases of the Assembly Hall in the premises of the Chemists' Club, No. 108 West Fifty-fifth street, for one year at an annual rental of $400, to date from July 1, 1904, said premises to be used for the purpose of extending medical and sanitary instruction and the delivering of lectures to the employees of the Department of Health; and of the second floor, consisting of four rooms, of the building known as Barnhard's, located at Nos. 372 and 374 Fulton street, Jamaica, Borough of Queens, at an annual rental of $1,000, from July 1, 1904, to July 1, 1907, to be used by the Department of Health as the headquarters for said Department in the Borough of Queens. The fateness of the time in forwarding said request to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund is accounted for by the fact that the person having in charge the leases of premises occupied by the Department of Health neglected to notify the members of the Board of Health of the expiration of the leases above mentioned. Respectfully, EUGENE W. SCHEFFER, Secretary. NEW YORK, July 15, 1904 At a meeting of the Board of Health of the Department of Health of The City of New York, held July 13, 1904, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That application be and is hereby respectfully made to the Honorable the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund for a renewal of the lease of the Assembly Hall, in the premises of the Chemists' Club, No. 108 West Fifty-fifth street, Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, for one year, at an annual rental of four hundred dollars, the same to be used for the purpose of extending medical and sanitary instruction and the delivering of lectures to the employees of the Department of Health, to date from July 1, 1904. A true copy. lease. EUGENE W. SCHEFFER, Secretary. Approved for renewal upon the same terms and conditions as in present existing JULY 19, 1904. MORTIMER J. BROWN, Appraiser of Real Estate in Charge of Bureau. In connection therewith the Comptroller offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the Comptroller be and is hereby authorized and directed to execute a renewal of the lease to the City from the Chemists' Club of the Assembly Hall, in the rear of the first floor of premises No. 108 West Fifty-fifth street, in the Borough of Manhattan, for the use of the Department of Health, for a term of one year from July 1, 1904, at an annual rental of four hundred dollars ($400), payable quarterly, and on the same terms and conditions as contained in the existing lease; the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund deeming the said rent fair and reasonable and that it would be for the interests of the City that such lease be made. Which was unanimously adopted. The following communication was received from the Department of Street Cleaning relative to the assisgnment of the vacant property at the foot of Canal street, near the North river, known as the site of the Old Clinton Market: Hon. EDWARD M. GROUT, Comptroller: NEW YORK, July 18, 1904. SIR-I would invite attention to inclosed copy of letter under date of March 16, 1904, requesting that the vacant property at the foot of Canal street, near the North river, known as the site of old Clinton Market, be assigned to the Department of Street Cleaning to be used temporarily as an incumbrance yard. This empty lot is unfenced and presents an unsightly surface, unpaved and strewn with rubbish. I would earnestly request an immediate action on this subject by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund at their meeting to be held Wednesday, July 20, in order that we may use it during this Respectfully, summer. JOHN MCG. WOODBURY, Commissioner. NEW YORK, March 16, 1904. Hon. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Mayor, Chairman, Board of Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: SIR-In order to facilitate the work of this Department I find it necessary to request that the site of the old Clinton Market at the foot of Canal street, near the North river, be assigned to this Department to be utilized as an incumbrance yard, temporarily. The nearest incumbrance yard is located at Fifty-sixth street and the North river. This makes a very long haul for those incumbrances that are removed from the lower section of the City, and we have entirely outgrown its size. I make this request not only as a matter of convenience to the Department of Street Cleaning and saving in regard to its length of haul, but in order to save money to those people who are careless enough to have their property in the custody of this Department, having left it upon the street. This is a need that has been long felt, and now that the opportunity has arisen to supply this necessary adjunct to the Department, I trust that the very earliest possible action will be taken upon this request. Respectfully, JOHN MCG. WOODBURY, Commissioner. In connection therewith the Comptroller presented the following reports and offered the following resolution: Hon. EDWARD M. GROUT, Comptroller: MARCH 17, 1904. SIR-Hon. John McGaw Woodbury, Commissioner of Street Cleaning, in communication, March 16, 1904, requests that the site of old Clinton Market, between Canal and Spring streets, North river, be assigned to his Department temporarily, to be utilized as an incumbrance yard, and states the reason why it would be desirable to use this piece of City property for the present. In reply, I would advise you that when the market was abolished the property was turned over to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund on October 16, 1903, and no assignment has yet been made. A complaint has been received by this Department that the plot is now being used as a dumping ground, and is, in fact, a public nuisance, and detrimental to the surrounding property. I have conferred with the Commissioner with regard to this matter, and he advised me that if the property be turned over to him, he will fence in the same, preventing all future nuisances for the present, and I would therefore recommend you to submit this matter to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund advising that this action be taken. Respectfully, EUG. E. McLEAN, Engineer. I have been informed by the Collector of City Revenue that the City is deriving no income from the property formerly the site of the old Clinton Market. I would therefore respectfully recommend that the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund comply with the request of the Commissioner of the Department of Street Cleaning, and assign the said property for the use of the said Department during the pleasure of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund. MORTIMER J. BROWN, Appraiser of Real Estate in Charge of Bureau. Resolved, That the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund hereby assign to the Ccmmissioner of Street Cleaning, the site of the old Clinton Market, between Canal and Spring streets, North river, to be utilized as an incumbrance yard; such assignment to continue during the pleasure of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund. Which resolution was unanimously adopted. The Comptroller presented the following report and offered the following resolution relative to a lease of a plot of ground, with stables and other buildings erected and to be erected thereon, situated on the north side of Butler street, between Fourth and Fifth avenues, in the Borough of Brooklyn, for the Department of Street Cleaning: Hon. EDWARD M. GROUT, Comptroller: JULY 15, 1904. SIR-Commissioner John McGaw Woodbury, in a communication to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, under date of July 11, 1904, says: 66 "I request the consent and approval of your Board, pursuant to section 541 of the "Charter, for a renewal of a lease from Robert Furey (residing at No. 10 Eighth “avenue, Brooklyn) of the plot of ground, with stables and other buildings situated therein, situated on the north side of Butler street, between Fourth and Fifth avenues, in the Borough of Brooklyn, for a term of ten (10) years, beginning the 1st day of October, 1904, at an annual rental of $6,000, payable quarterly; the lessor to "build new stables on said plot of ground on the north side of Butler street, in "accordance with the plans and specifications now in possession of the Engineer of "the Department of Finance, the lessor to pay all land taxes and all ground water taxes and to keep the said premises insured and in good tenantable repair, both in"side and outside, during the term of said lease; this lease to cancel and surrender so "much of the existing lease as covers the 1st day of October, 1904; it being under"stood that the increase of annual rental from the present rental of $2,500 to the 'aforesaid rental of $6,000 shall not take effect until the new stables aforesaid are com"pleted, as certified by the Engineer of the Department of Finance; the City to pay "for the water used on the premises." 66 In compliance with your instructions, I have examined this plot of ground with a view to ascertaining its present fair market value, and have the honor to report as follows: This property is known on the tax books as Lot No. 51, Block No. 940, Section 4. Volume 1, and the assessed valuation is: Land $21,600 00 3.400 00 $25.000 00 This land assessment is at the rate of $1,800 a lot, 20x100 feet. I find upon examining the tax books that lots on equal depth on either side of this plot in Butler street are assessed at $1,600 each. This not only includes the plots of 120 and 140 feet front. west of the Furey property, but also a lot 20X100 feet east of the Furey plot, which lot is only 90 feet from the corner of Fifth avenue. I cannot understand why there should be this difference in the assessed valuation, especially as the tax books show that the owner applied for a reduction and was refused by the Commissioners. It cannot be due to plottage, as that would apply with equal force to the two large plots as mentioned above. I consider the assessed valuation of all of these properties very high, but still not out of proportion to the assessment placed on vacant property directly across Butler street, where lots 20x100 feet are assessed at $1,200 each. As to the value of the Furey plot, I desire to say that the plot 240x100 feet directly across Butler street, 250 feet west of Fifth avenue, was sold in January, 1903, for $10,000, or $833 a lot. This, it should be explained, was practically a forced sale, the lots having been held at $1,600 each. There is, however, a plot 60x100 feet adjoining this last parcel mentioned which is now in the market at $3,300, or $1,100 a lot. Another parcel, 200x100 feet, on the north side of Butler street, 133 feet west of Fourth avenue, or about a block west of the Furey property, was sold in June, 1903, for $8,000, or $800 a lot. Upon the other hand, the plot 140x144 feet on the same block front as the Furey plot and 120 feet further west was bought by the City in August, 1892, for $16,100, or $2,300 a lot. It is a fact, however, that lots in Butler street in this neighborhood were worth more fifteen or twenty years ago than they are worth at the present time. I am of the opinion, however, that, notwithstanding the assessed valuation of the Furey property, and taking into account the extra depth and plottage, the present fair market value of the Furey property is not above $20,000. Mr. Eugene E. McLean, Chief Engineer of the Finance Department, having reported upon the value of the improvements now existing and contemplated under the request of the Commissioner of the Department of Street Cleaning as $50,000, the total value of land and improvements would be therefore $75,000. The rent asked by the owner, $6,000, is therefore 8 per cent. upon the total cost. While this rent is full value, it is not necessarily excessive, and I would therefore respectfully recommend that the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund authorize the Commissioner of the Department of Street Cleaning, subject to the approved of the Comptroller, to execute a lease of the premises for a term of ten years from the date of occupation of the property by the Department of Street Cleaning, at an annual rental of $6,000, payable quarterly, the lessor to pay all taxes, assessments and ground water charges and to make all such repairs of the roof or other outside repairs as may be deemed necessary by the Commissioner, the City to pay for the Croton water used on the premises and to make all necessary inside repairs; and I would further respectfully recommend that the owners of the premises be requested to file a copy of the plan and specifications with the Engineer of the Department of Finance, and before the lease is entered into by the Department of Street Cleaning, the Engineer of the Department inspect the building and make a report thereon to the Comptroller as to whether the building is constructed in accordance with said plans and specifications for the needs and requirements of the Department of Street Cleaning. |