Courtesy of: Richard Tarczaly / Flickr

Manhattan's historic Hell's Kitchen neighborhood borders the Hudson River and includes the area situated west of Eighth Avenue between 34th and 59th Streets. Also known as Clinton or Midtown West, Hell's Kitchen is home to an assortment of bars and restaurants which are within close proximity to major Broadway, as well as Off Broadway theater venues. A recent surge in new condominium developments in the area has transformed the enclave's reputation as bustling entertainment hub to that of luxe residential hot spot.

There are some blocks in New York City which are thought to be, quite simply, better than the rest. We’ve seen this phenomenon of sorts along locations like Central Park West, where the presence of 15 Central Park West has added an almost incomparable sheen to the Upper West Side neighborhood. It happens all the time downtown too, where real estate is more expensive than ever. But now, it is the Midtown West section of Manhattan that is getting its time in the sun, with the area becoming the location of choice for some of the most fascinating new developments in the city that are currently the talk of the town.

Despite the nervous stock market this summer, sales in the Manhattan real estate market are positively stable. While the fear of a relapse in the global economic crisis is still very much a reality in the minds of many potential buyers, the numbers indicate that Manhattan homebuyers are not deterred. The latest trend shows that many Manhattan buyers are now taking advantage of the current market situation and favoring three- to four-bedroom apartments instead of the traditional smaller units. Sales in luxury Manhattan apartments are at their highest point since 2008 and apartments on the Upper West Side are closing at an average of $4.8 million or more.

If it seems like it has been awhile since you've read about a new FHA-approved Manhattan condo development at New Construction Manhattan, that would be because it has been awhile. That is, both awhile since we wrote about it, and awhile since a new Manhattan condo qualified for FHA approval. So long, in fact, that you might've forgotten what it means for a condo to qualify for FHA approval. In short -- or at least shorter than this NCM post, which explains it in more detail -- when a condo gets FHA approval, the Federal Housing Administration has deemed the project both healthy and stable enough that condo buyers at said condo project qualify for government-backed loans at very advantageous rates. The list of NYC condos that have received FHA approvallinks to all of the FHA-approved condo listings in New Construction Manhattan's NYC condo database. Now that list has grown by one, as the Clinton luxury condominium The 505 has been granted FHA approval.