Over the past decade, American Indian tribes have made millions of dollars in the gaming and hospitality industry. In retrospect, one of the worst investments made by their ancestors was the sale of Manhattan Island in 1626 for beads and trinkets valued at 60 guilders, or approximately $24.

How prices have risen.

Sales are continuing apace this year in all five boroughs, as well as on Long Island and in New Jersey. In April, Jules Demchek, principal of Carlisle Realty, and partner Credit Suisse First Boston paid $83 million, or $325 a developable square foot, for a 240,000-square-foot site on Third Avenue between 23rd and 24th streets. Later this summer, a site occupied by CVS Pharmacy on 23rd Street between First and Second avenues is expected to be sold for about $32 million, or $375 a developable square foot. This summer, industry leaders expect the headquarters of the Anti-Defamation League at 823 United Nations Plaza to be sold for at least $110 million, or $525 a developable square foot.

Land prices in TriBeCa are running over $400 a developable square foot. Later this summer, one of the largest developable sites in the area, about 300,000 square feet, will go on the market. It is expected to fetch in excess of $135 million, or $450 a developable square foot.

Massey Knakal Realty Services is marketing three development sites, including a conversion/development site at 87-89 Chambers St., a block-through property on the north side of Chambers and the south side of Reade in the TriBeCa South Historic District and the TriBeCa mixed-use district.

Fully developed, it would have 57,000 square feet, and is being offered for $24.7 million.

A site at 358 Broadway/59 Franklin St. with 62,966 square feet of rental space is on the market for $19.5 million.

Three contiguous five-story buildings at 60-66 White St. between Church and Broadway with 44,800 square feet of above-grade space is being offered for $26.93 million.

Last June, Hank Sopher sold a 57,000-square-foot developable site at 23-29 Bond St. for $9 million. This past March, the property was sold for $26 million. A site of approximately 19,000 developable square feet at 744 Greenwich St., recently sold for $10.5 million.

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Last week, a joint venture of Gary Barnett’s Excell Development and the Carlyle Group agreed to pay $1.8 billion for three residential rental apartment buildings and a 5-acre parcel between 59th and 62nd streets in the Hudson Waterfront-Donald Trump Riverside South development. Sources say two of the rental buildings will probably be sold and the third will be converted into a condominium. The three buildings are believed to be worth $600 million. The balance of the site, valued at $1.2 billion, is expected to be developed into residential condominiums. A number of properties are on sale in Chelsea. A 33,000-square- foot property between Seventh and Eighth avenues on 19th Street is expected to be sold next month for $12.5 million. A 70,000-square-foot developable site on 18th Street between Ninth and 10th avenues is in contract to be sold for $24 million, or $340 per square foot. A nine-story residential condominium will be built on a 22-by-101-foot site at 163 Charles St., which recently sold for $450 a developable square foot.

On the Upper East Side, a six-story garage at 157-61 E. 84th St., with approximately 102,000 square feet of developable space is expected to go for $15 million. A 28,000-square-foot site on 77th Street between First and York avenues is in contract to be sold for $12 million.

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The Jets stadium will not rise over the Hudson Yards, yet industry leaders expect prices in the area to continue to rise. A 74,000-developable-square-foot site on 39th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues is expected to go for more than $13 million. On 31st Street near 10th Avenue, a developable site of 143,000 square feet is expected to sell for $23 million. Over the past few months, sites including parking lots and small buildings in the area have sold for over $175 a developable square foot.

“At this point in time, it is impossible to clearly assess what a site may bring on a buildable square foot basis,” a director at Eastern Consolidated Properties, Alan Miller, said. “We are now seeing commercially zoned land trading routinely for greater than $150 per square foot, and in fact approaching $200 psf.”

Land prices in many parts of Queens are over $100 a developable square foot.

“Land within the rezoned district of Long Island City is selling for over $100 a square foot,” the president of Shalom Zuckerbrot and Octagon Properties, Frank Zuckerbrot, said. “Industrial land outside of the rezoned district is selling for $90 to $100 per square foot. Land prices in Maspeth are approaching $75 per square foot.”

Last month, Massey Knakal sold a one-story brick commercial building with a parking lot at 43-10 10th St. in Long Island City, leased to the U.S. Postal Service through February 28, 2015, for $3.8 million.

In Brooklyn, the rezoning of Downtown and gentrification have boosted land prices. A site on Myrtle Avenue in Downtown is selling for $150 a square foot, while sites in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant are fetching $75 to $100 a square foot. A mixed-use site at 510 Flatbush Ave. and 31 Lincoln Road of 125,000 developable square feet near Prospect Park is on the market for $7.9 million. A 99,00-square-foot site at 95 and 115 Crown St. in Crown Heights is on sale for $8.9 million.

There is a shortage of developable land in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Improved residential lots on the South Shore of Long Island are selling for $170 a developable square foot. Prices in Suffolk County are $150 a developable square foot.

Land in Hoboken is going for over $125 a developable square foot. A number of mixed-use sites are on the market in Jersey City for prices over $100 a foot.

I have to agree with Alan Miller when he says, “Only time shall tell what a smart investment is when it comes to land acquisitions in New York City, but we know the old cliche that rings quite true that they isn’t making any more of it.” Those American Indians are making money in gaming, but perhaps they should have kept their land.