With government officials issuing zoning proposals to stall the expansion of large chain stores on the Upper West Side, other Manhattan neighborhoods are beginning to take note. Areas downtown and on the Upper East Side are now developing similar plans, in order to preserve retail diversity within their respective neighborhoods. 

What was once the black sheep of Manhattan real estate, Upper Manhattan is now home to some of the hottest luxury apartments for sale. Traditionally encompassing the neighborhoods of Marble Hill, Inwood, Washington Heights, Harlem and part of the Upper West Side, Upper Manhattan contains some of the most historically rich and culturally preserved communities in New York City. New Yorkers who are searching for cheap rents and undiscovered entertainment hubs, like jazz lounges and lighthouses, have flocked to Upper Manhattan neighborhoods like Washington Heights and Harlem in recent years. For many young couples and artists, the quasi-suburban neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan have become a great alternative to buying in Midtown West and Midtown East.

West End Avenue is home to some of the most regal buildings in all of Manhattan, and soon those buildings might be off limits to the real estate developers who are constantly looking to transform Manhattan with new construction. A few years ago, the West End Preservation Society submitted a proposal to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to expand the historic district on West End Avenue, thereby preserving a huge swath of the area. If approved, the proposed district will extend from West 70th Street all the way up to West 109th Street between Broadway and Riverside Avenues, a 2-mile stretch on the Upper West Side that encompasses 745 buildings in all. This change would eliminate new construction on West End Ave, although it would still allow developers to convert existing buildings into condos. Nonetheless, in a neighborhood that attracts very affluent buyers and renters, it's safe to say that developers will not be happy about being forced to give up such a valuable part of Manhattan.

We at New Construction Manhattan have had our collective eye -- we just share one, it's more convenient -- on Upper West Side luxury condo Linden 78 since it was first announced back in 2009. There's a lot to like, after all: top-tier new construction finishes and amenities share space with elegant condos that have spacious dimensions and soaring ceilings that are more-or-less pre-war in their graciousness. But while Linden 78 inarguably rates among the most interesting new condo listings on the Upper West Side, it has spent the last six months as just that: a listing. Calls to Linden 78's sales office weren't answered, and the building was wrapped up in a series of legal and financial entanglements. Now, finally, comes some good news: the phones are being picked up at Linden 78's sales office, and indications are that Linden 78 could begin sales within the next month. This is good news for a number of reasons.

Anyone who has spent any time wandering around Manhattan's former real estate hot spots over the past year has probably noticed the relative dearth of new construction residential projects, but people notice a lot of things wandering around Manhattan. But while there's no hard data proving that everyone on the Upper East Side owns a tiny dog, say, the where-have-all-the-new-construction-condos observation turns out to be right on.