It may be surprising to learn that Kuw Wan Lee, John Jacob Astor Jr., Sam Chang, Nelson Rockefeller, Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, Steve Levine, Donald Trump, and Jack Reilly all have something in common. All of them have owned homes on Fifth Avenue. Today, individuals and seasoned real estate investors are purchasing apartments and office buildings on Fifth Avenue.

Last week, a partnership of the Feil Organization, Lloyd Goldman, and Stanley Chera entered into a contract to purchase a 425,000-square-foot office building at 261 Fifth Ave. for $180 million, or $425 a square foot, from L & L Acquisitions and the Carlyle Group. In February, the partnership paid $54 million for a 100,000-squarefoot office building at 590 Fifth Ave.

Earlier this month, the New York Mets announced plans to build a new stadium directly across from Shea Stadium. The owners of the Mets are the principals of Sterling Equities, which owns 575 Fifth Ave. In July, Sterling will sell the 40-story, 520,000-square-foot building for $385 million, or $740 a square foot, to Metropolitan Life.

In a few months, a 129-room Holiday Inn Express on 45th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues will greet its first guests.

Earlier this month, the CIT Group leased 130,000 square feet in the new Kipp-Stawski office tower under construction at 505 Fifth Ave. CIT plans to move into the building in 2006, and the tower will be renamed the CIT Building.

A number of office buildings around Fifth Avenue are going on the market this summer. They include the 23-story, 545,000-square-foot JPMorgan Chase Building at 522 Fifth Ave. and a 17-story, 95,000-square-foot building at 12 E. 41st St.

In July, Michael Belfonti, Adam Hochfelder, and the Carlyle Group plan to close on the purchase of 485 Fifth Ave. The partnership is paying $88 million to a partnership headed by investor Jack Forgash, who paid $54 million for the building earlier this year. The new owners plan a gut renovation of the property and will convert it into luxury residential condominiums.

Last December, DiamondRock Hospitality paid $34.37 million to ING Realty Partners for the 30-story, 189-room Clarion Fifth Avenue Hotel 5A at 3 E. 40th St., which was renamed the Courtyard by Marriott Manhattan Fifth Avenue.

In the fall of 2003, the first tenants moved into Trevor Davis/RFR Realty’s 51-story, 141-unit residential condominium at 425 Fifth Ave. According to the trade, one-bedroom units are selling from $875,000, with two-bedrooms going for $1.83 million to $3 million.

Later this year, Mr. Davis and Joseph Chetrit are expected to begin construction on a residential condominium tower at 404 Fifth Ave.

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Hotel developer Sam Chang is expected to complete the renovation of a small building at 375 Fifth Ave. into a 60-room, limited service hotel. Directly behind the building at 1-3 E. 35th St., Atlantic Development Group will develop a 20-story residential rental tower to provide affordable housing to families earning less than 60% of the area median income.

West of the Empire State Building at 50 W. 34th St. is the former McAlpin Hotel. Ziel Feldman’s Property Markets Group acquired the property and redeveloped it into a 690-unit residential tower called Herald Towers. This spring, the sales office opened at the building and according to industry sources, units are selling for more than $700 a square foot.

More than 70% of the units have been sold at a 40-story, 390,000-squarefoot, 250-unit condominium tower rising at 325 Fifth Ave. across from the Empire State Building. The luxury tower is a development of the Fisch family, Continental Properties, and Douglaston Development, an affiliate of Levine Builders. The sales office opened three months ago, and units are selling for more than $1,200 a square foot.

“People are buying units since they have discovered SOFI, South of Fifth Avenue, in the middle of the island of Manhattan, which offers not only access to transportation, virtually every subway, and Penn Station, and a short walk to the adjacent neighborhoods of Chelsea, Murray Hill, Gramercy Park, the Flatiron District, as well as Midtown Manhattan” said Jeffrey Levine, principal of Levine Builders. “The building offers an unparallel amenity package including an indoor pool, lounge, and commissary,” he said.

The senior director at Cushman & Wakefield, Joanne Podell, believes that retail will certainly follow all the new residential development in the area. “It begins with service-oriented retailers, and down the road, when the residents move in, expect chains to soon follow,” she said.

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Le Marquis New York is a 120-room boutique hotel operated by Triumph Hospitality at 12 E. 31st St. The property, formerly known as the Hotel Chandler, was acquired by Manhattan Property Investors Group in June 2004. Directly across the street is a new residential rental tower developed by New Jersey based Atlantic Realty.

The Church of the Transfiguration, aka the Little Church Around the Corner off Fifth Avenue at 29th Street, recently sold an auxiliary structure at 11 E. 29th St. to Clarett Capital, a joint venture of the Clarett Group and Prudential Real Estate Investors, which will demolish it to make way for a 54-story, 138-unit luxury condominium development. Last week, the Clarett Group entered into a contract to acquire a 150,000-square-foot, 124-unit rental tower with additional air rights at 220 Central Park South for $132 million from the estate of Sara Korein.

One thing is certain: Investor interest continues to be brisk and active on Fifth Avenue. Over the past year, more than two-dozen properties on Fifth Avenue between 29th and 59th streets have been sold. The combination of record-low interest rates, desire by investors to own and live in Midtown Manhattan, and the availability of higher leverage has aided in this record frenzy on Fifth. I have to agree with a developer who is building a residential tower in Midtown who said, “Today is great, but I would not like to be the last developer standing when this market turns.”

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and vice president at First American Title Insurance Company of New York. He can be reached at mstoler@firstam.com.