Before Lehman Brothers collapsed and caused the housing market to begin its downward spiral in 2008, New York City was the desired destination for several luxury condo projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. There were a number of high-rises expected to add to the city’s already impressive skyline, but the recession cast an awful pall over the condo sector, and several of these planned projects were thrown into oblivion. But with , developers are expecting to see a “development renaissance,” with about 1,500 new condominiums are expected to rise in the next few years in the area below 96th Street in Manhattan.

The New York Times reports that besides the many stalled projects that are coming back to life, New York could also be seeing over the next 18 months. One of the noteworthy planned projects is 432 Park Avenue, the site of the former Drake Hotel, which was torn down in 2006 to make way for building a condo. But with the developer, Harry Macklowe, losing the site in the recession, the site remained unused for the past few years. Now, the condo plan has resurfaced, and it seeks to build the tallest apartment building in the city at 1,398 feet, overtaking , which now holds the honor at 1,004 feet.

Another long-delayed project was the Tribeca address of 56 Leonard Street, which was supposed to have a 57-story building towering over Church Street, but instead got only as far as the foundation for the same. Today, the project sees a larger number of partners running the show to reduce the risk in the current post-recession climate, and hopes to open a sales office by the end of the year.