To all those Wall Street executives who reaped enormous bonuses in 2006: Perhaps you are ready for a career change. You have been successful in the world of finance; now, should you transfer your entrepreneurial skills real estate investment?

For the would-be developer, it is not too late to dive into the shark pit and try your luck with building residential condominiums in New York City.

A managing partner at Massey Knakal Realty, Shimon Shkury, says his firm is listing 38 development sites in the five boroughs. Thirteen sites are available in Manhattan, 12 in Brooklyn, seven in Queens, three in the Bronx, and three on Staten Island. Prices range from as low as $48 a buildable foot, on Marcy Avenue and Stockton Street in Brooklyn, to $360 a buildable foot, in Manhattan.

In the Bronx, an investment banker is marketing for sale one of the largest development sites in the city, Fordham Landing, which is available for immediate residential, dormitory, medical, or other community facility development. The 3.7-acre site, located on the Harlem River across from Manhattan in the University Heights section of the Bronx, permits more than 550,000 square feet of development for residential use, without the need for approvals or variances.

“There aren’t any real ‘killer’ sites being offered at the moment,” the president of SJP Residential, Allen Goldman, said. “In fact, the offerings of large sites suitable for residential development are few in number. I suspect that great sites, which have location, height, and views, would still be asking north of $400 a square foot. ‘B sites’ are showing signs of lower numbers with more urgency to sell, some being offered in the range of $200 a buildable square foot.”

CHELSEA HIGH LINE DISTRICT

One of the most sought out new areas of development is in the West Chelsea High Line district, considered by many as one of the hottest residential and commercial neighborhoods in Manhattan. On Valentine’s Day, prior to taking your wife or sweetheart to dinner, you can submit your allcash offer by 3 p.m. to the professionals at Eastern Consolidated Properties. They are offering for sale a site at 537–545 W. 27th St., a block-through development site where you could develop more than 123,000 square feet of commercial or residential space or a community facility building without zoning changes or variances. A developer could increase the size of the building by purchasing air rights and using an inclusionary housing bonus, which would increase the size of the development to more than 185,000 square feet. Real estate experts expect the site to trade for more than $300 a buildable foot.

Another site is a block-through commercial development site at 511–517 W. 21st St. with frontage on both 21st and 22nd streets. A developer can build a 100,000-square-feet building for use as a gallery or a hotel, and industry sources expect the site to sell for more than $500 a buildable foot.

UPPER EAST SIDE, SUTTON PLACE, & TURTLE BAY

A development site ready for immediate construction is at 305 E. 85th St., with frontage on Second Avenue. Yesterday at 3 p.m., allcash bids for this L-shaped parcel were due to be submitted to the senior director at Eastern Consolidated, Alan Miller. The winning bidder has an opportunity to construct a 21-story, 117,663-squarefoot tower with 4,125 square feet of retail. “The property will probably fetch north of $400 per buildable square foot, partly due to the fact that the project will be breaking ground in the spring, and design and development drawings are 100% complete,” Mr. Miller said.

Later this month, a 60,000-square-foot development site at 1480 Second Ave. on the northeast corner of East 77th Street will be sold to a developer who plans to construct another condominium. The site is expected to trade for about $375 a buildable foot.

UPPER WEST SIDE

The Young Israel West Side Synagogue has retained an investment banker to expedite the sale of a prime development site. A developer can build a 110,682-squarefoot residential condominium on floors five to 22 that will house 45 residential condominiums at the site of the synagogue, at 210 W. 91st St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. The synagogue is seeking $16 million for the development site. The price includes completed architectural plans and legal and operating agreements.

Industry leaders are cautiously optimistic about the future of condominium demand in the city.

“We are seeing sites that were originally purchased for condominium development now getting developed as alternative uses such as office, hotel, rental, or some combination,” the executive vice president of Bank of America, James Hedden, said. “Lenders have pulled back from condo lending with only prime locations and top-tier developers commanding the capital.”

SJP Residential’s Mr. Goldman said he thinks “some of the outer borough development sites need a dose of reality when it comes to land prices. The Williamsburg and Long Island City buyers are not paying the prices for condos that would justify the land prices of a year ago. Sellers see it and are adjusting their prices downward faster than Manhattan sellers.”

Eastern Consolidated’s Mr. Miller said proposed changes in 421-a legislation “will definitely affect land prices, as the condominium buyer will not have that tax savings passed through to them from the developer. In my opinion, land prices will drop by as much as $75 per buildable square foot as this valuable program appears to be coming to an end as we now know it.”

Despite signs that lenders are more cautious on financing condominium development than they were in recent years, dozens of projects are now in the pipeline.

On the Upper East Side, a number of condominium developments are in various stages of planning and construction.

Later this year, the Related Cos .will begin development of a new tower at 200 E. 86th St. on Third Avenue. The 20-story building will have 190 units and 14,000 square feet of retail space. One block north, Extell Development has already begun construction of its mixed-use residential condominium on the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 86th Street. Directly across the street is a branch of Emigrant Savings Bank, at 1270 Lexington Ave. The site is owned by Ramaz School, which is planning to select a developer to build a new school and a residential condominium tower on the upper floors.

World Wide Holdings has begun construction at 1425 Second Ave., on the northwest corner of 74th Street. The 30-story tower will also have about 70 residential units and a 44,000-square-foot Equinox Fitness Center. World Wide has been active along Second Avenue. A few years ago, the company built the Milan Condominium on East 55th Street and Second Avenue, on the former site of the legendary El Morocco nightclub. As reported in The New York Sun last October, World Wide has made an agreement with the city for a 75-year lease of a 1.5-acre site on East 57th Street and Second Avenue, where it will raze the existing schools, P.S. 59 and the High School of Arts and Design, build two new schools, and develop a 59-story apartment tower and a fourstory band of retail stores.

A great deal of new construction is in various stages on Second Avenue between 49th and 53rd streets. Late last year, Macklowe Properties completed ThreeTen Condo, at the corner of Second Avenue and 53rd Street. Directly across the street, at 250 E. 53rd St., is the Veneto, a development of the Related Cos. The 32-story tower will have 137 condominium units. Construction is scheduled to begin at a site at 303–307 E. 51st St., directly off the corner of 51st Street and Second Avenue, where Kennelly Development Co. plans to erect a 40-story residential condominium tower with 117 apartments.

One block away, at 946–952 Second Ave. between 50th and 51st streets, another condominium tower is planned. Directly across the street, at 249–253 E. 50th St., where the restaurants Lutece, Leopard, and Kate Kearney’s once stood, another residential building is rising. Demolition is under way at 49th Street and Second Avenue, where a developer has obtained financing from Lehman Brothers to build a residential condominium.

On the West Side, a 20-story residential condominium is planned for 230 W. 78th St. between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. The building, a development of Urban Residential Properties, will have 34 apartments.

Construction has begun on a 16-story residential condominium at 120 W. 72nd St. between Columbus Avenue and Broadway. The tower, a development of Anbau Enterprises, which recently completed the conversion of the Intercontinental Hotel at 110 Central Park South, will have 22 apartments.

At the southwest corner of 72nd Street, at 2075 Broadway, a 19-story condominium is rising. The site, directly across the street from Broadway and the 72nd Street subway stop, will have a total of 49,478 square feet of retail on four levels.

Other planned developments include a 600,000-square-foot site located on the north side of West 28th Street stretching the entire block front of Eleventh Avenue between 28th and 29th streets. A second site is a 250,000-square-foot block-through site that spans the entire block front of Eleventh Avenue between 26th and 27th streets.

In conclusion, I have to concur with Mr. Goldman when he says lenders “are definitely more cautious, particularly with condo development. The new guy doesn’t have a chance unless he has lots of equity.” So, if you want to try your hand at residential development, I suggest that you evaluate all the risks and perhaps invest with a seasoned real estate professional who understands the risks of construction and development. One suggestion: Definitely don’t give up your day job and risk your bonus.

Mr. Stoler, a contributing editor to The New York Sun, is a television broadcaster and senior principal at a real estate investment fund. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com.