ARENS, Max


Max Arens, of 261 Broadway, Manhattan, is an extensively known attorney with a comprehensive grasp of the realty situation in Brooklyn, as a result of his close touch with the legal aspects of real estate and his own observation of the actual strides of the realty development in the boro.

Arens is the sort of a man who misses little, indeed, of the things that interest him, and this realty growth did interest him. With the keen powers which he has for observation, his peculiar ability of penetrating into the logic of mass movements, and his wide contact and voluminous acquaintanceship, no wonder he can tell a great deal about Brooklyn and its rise.

And he not only narrates it, but does so with the smoothness, the color and the sequence of the born story-teller or the enthusiastic raconteur. One can picture the whole panorama of changes which transpired in Bay Ridge, with which he is particularly conversant, in the last twenty years, listening to his story.

In connection with his law practice, Arens has come in contact with some of the leading realtors in the boro, and this contact supplements his already ample erudition.

Arens was born on April 2, 1879, in Brooklyn. He attended public school, Boys' High school, and Columbia University Law School, from which he graduated in 1901. In the following year he was admitted to the bar.

He is well-known in communal circles of the boro, for his espousal of communal causes, and his leadership in many civic movements. he is a member of the South Brooklyn Board of Trade, Congregation Beth Elohim, Unity Club, the Twelfth Assembly District Republican Club, the Park Slope Masonic Club, and of the Men's Club of the foregoing temple.

His relaxations are motoring and music.

He is married, and with his wife and son lives at 532 Eighth Street.

ARONS, Joseph

Real estate, in the final analysis, is speculative and uncertain. Its values almost invariably depend on conditions that lie in the realm of conjecture and not in the realm of fact. To that extent no human mind could really foretell, with precision, what the situation will be two-five-ten years hence. But if one sought a masterly analysis of it, to the extent possible, one of the very few who are capable of presenting it would be Joseph Arons, of 94 Clinton Street builder and investor.

With an amazing lucidity, unswerving logic, and a first-hand close knowledge of existing facts, Joseph Arons depicted to this writer the entire panorama of the realty situation in the boro. And the salient point in his conclusion was that while the upward trend in values on land will continue, there is a likelihood of a temporary lull in the construction of apartment houses. For, as he explained, the supply has already caught up with the demand bringing on the existence of vacancies. He foresees, however, a continued growth in one-family house, because of the current tendency to buy homes.

Joseph Arons was born in Janowitz, Germany, on February 23, 1870. He attended public school there, and came to the United States as a boy of fourteen. His subsequently education has been picked up "on the go," and this is the more remarkable as one recalls the man's unusual command of the English language, and his wide culture. After a general mercantile experience, which included selling little wares, retail clothing and, presently, wholesale clothing, he entered the realty field, and started building. This was seventeen years ago. For the last eight-nine years he has been engaged in realty investment. Arons' keen powers for observation, his incessant interest in life in general, and his vigorous devotion to his business all contributed largely to his success.

Arons is a member of the Unity Club, the Chamber of Commerce, director of Eighth Avenue Temple, director of the Jewish Hospital, and member of the Federation of Jewish Charities. He is a Mason.

His diversions consist in motoring, golfing, the theater and music.

He was married in 1904, and with his wife and two children lives at 278 Garfield Place.