Astor A Restaurateur

John Jacob Aster a restaurateur! It's a faot. arm the lis block of land at Forty-seeond street and Broadway is soon to be tlie site of a restauran) whieh mny vie with tle best in tliif country or Europe, says the New York Sun. Por years Aeker, Merrall & Condit have oecupied the corner. It is now in that part of the city which embraces half a dozen theaters and lots of hotels. Some weeks ago Thomas J. Shanley and hls two brothers, who conduct a chophou?e opposite Daly's theater, got an option on the property and then approached the owner. John Jacob Astor. They asked Mr. Astor to build an upto-date restaurant on the property, where now stands a ramshackle twostory building. Thomas J. Shanley said last nigTit: "We expect in a short ime to build a restaurant that wlll astonish the world. Before I went in' v.iis business I was buyer for a large dry goods house. I went three timesayear to London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and lots of other Continental cities. I saw what we needed in the restaurant line. According to our plans, which Mr. Astor is to follow, we wlll have a building at least three stories high. On the roof is to be an open-air restaurant. Below we are to have one room for men and women where smoking is not allowed; another for both sexes where smoking is permltted. There Is also to be a cafe for men and a banquet hall for meetings and big dinners. The roof restaurant wil], I think, appeal to those who like to dine comfortably, and you know what heat is to the average New Yorker. "One unique feature will be an orchestra so situated in a court that the man who chooses to spend seventy-flve cents, or whatever he cares to, will hear as much as those who are in the other galleries. I have always considered what people want, and v.hen I say that our business in this small place amounts to over a quarter of a million of dollars a year you can see what a larger place, in a better location, perhaps, will amount to. Mr. Astor said that his new hotel would take so much money- it is to adjoin the Waldorf, you know- that he hadn't as much to spend on our new place as ordinarily he would have. However, $200,000, we understand, is 'the amount to be used. "The place will be equipped with the newest and best cuHnary arrangements, and I shall leave for Europe shortly to get the best chef I can engage. The waiters will be English-speaking ones -I don't fancy foreigners - and if there is anything to eat to be had anywhere we will have it, and it will be properly cooked, too. It will be a new departure in a way, but we hope to mak it a success."