The Financial District was the first area of Manhattan to develop, and its narrow streets and palpable history make that impossible to forget. But the lower Manhattan neighborhood now known as the Financial District has been growing and changing nearly non-stop since it was first developed centuries ago. The stunning architecture and sheer size of the towers that rise above the Financial District’s streets reflect the Financial District's more recent history as the center of the financial world. But while the Financial District remains the capital of Capital, the Financial District's future is plain to see -- in the area between City Hall Park on the North and the bottom of Manhattan Island on the South, the Financial District has quietly emerged as one of the most desirable new residential neighborhoods in all of Manhattan, and is home to some of the finest new condo listings in New York City.

While the business of the Financial District is still business, many of the grand towers in the neighborhood have been converted into luxury condominiums -- and enough new construction condos have risen alongside them -- that the number of people living in the district more than doubled in the first decade of the 21st century. A number of highly rated public schools make the Financial District even more desirable, while an influx of upscale shopping, as well as a tide of restaurants and bars that range from posh to endearingly down-home, have ensured that the New Yorkers who have flocked to the Financial District are living well in one of the most historically significant neighborhoods in Manhattan. In some instances, they're even living in history. The condominiums for sale at The Cipriani Club Residences and 20 Pine are both located in stately pre-war buildings that had previous lives as centers of big business, before being converted to luxury condos. New construction condominiums in the Financial District, such as Be@William, are equally luxe, and rank among the best-amenitized condos in Manhattan. A neighborhood defined by reinvention -- from Dutch colony to the first capital of the United States to the center of global banking and business -- the Financial District is doing it again, and has gracefully remade itself as one of the most desirable residential neighborhoods in Manhattan.