Madison Square Park is the vibrant center of Manhattan’s Flatiron District, located on 6.2 acres between 23rd and 26th streets and Fifth and Madison avenues. Recently a number of the sites in the area have been sold to make way for residential condominiums.

In February 2005, the Chetrit Group paid about $355 million to a partnership headed by Peter Malkin for two buildings known as the Toy Center, one at 200 Fifth Ave. at 23rd Street and the other at 1107 Broadway at 24th Street. These buildings face the park, and the complex is now called Madison Park West. Two weeks ago, the City Planning Commission approved a rezoning of the complex that lets the owner convert the buildings into 460 residential condominiums. The special permit also affects two smaller, adjacent mid-block buildings owned by the Chetrit Group and allows for the creation of a 54-car garage at the rear of 1107 Broadway. The 15-story building at 200 Fifth Ave. was built in 1909 and the 16-story building at 1107 Broadway was erected in 1915.

In April 2004, Elad Properties paid about $125 million for the 12-story, 380,000-square-foot red brick building on Fifth Avenue between 26th and 27th streets. The building was originally built in 1906 as a furniture warehouse, converted into a hotel during World War II, and later transformed into showrooms and known as the New York Gift Building. At the time of the purchase, the president of Elad, Miki Naftali, said, “The concept of the conversion was to bring Park and Fifth Avenue uptown to this building.” The building is in the process of being converted into 200 residential condominiums known as the Grand Madison on Fifth Avenue.

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In March 2005, SL Green Realty Trust Corporation purchased One Madison Avenue for $918 million. It purchased the building from MetLife. One Madison Avenue consists of two contiguous buildings with about 1.4 million square feet. The 14-story South Building was built in 1956 and consists of about 1.2 million square feet of office space. The South Building was acquired by a joint venture with Gramercy Capital Corporation. Gramercy acquired a 45% interest and SL Green a 55% interest in the building, which is occupied almost entirely by Credit Suisse First Boston. The purchase price of the South Building was about $803 million. The North Tower, completed in 1909, is a landmark building, contains 41 stories of 267,000 square feet of space, and is zoned for residential and office use. Additionally the air rights associated with the property could provide for the development of about 470,000 square feet of additional space. Last week, SL Green announced it had entered a joint venture arrangement with its tenant, Credit Suisse, RFR Holding, and hotelier Ian Schrager for the redevelopment and residential conversion of the North Tower, also known as the Clocktower. Under the terms of the venture, SL Green will retain a 30% interest in the building.

In December 2003, MetLife sold the adjacent building at 11 Madison Ave.cto a partnership of Zar Realty Management Corporation, controlled by Tamir Sapir, investor David Werner, and a group of investors. The 30-story, 2.2 million-square-foot building was sold for $675 million, or $310 a square foot. The building serves as the headquarters of Credit Suisse First Boston and several retail tenants.

At the northwest corner of 26th Street and Madison Avenue is the former headquarters of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The original building was built in 1896 and underwent extensive renovation in 2005 with six floors added to the building. The owner, Samson Management, converted the property into a luxury condominium named 50 Madison Avenue.

Last week, a residential developer from Rockland County purchased two two-story buildings at 20-22 E. 23rd St. and the air rights of the adjacent properties from a prominent New York City residential developer who had acquired the sites over the past 18 months. One of the sites previously housed a MdDonald’s. The new owner plans to demolish the buildings and construct a 40-story residential tower.

A 12-story building at 76 Madison Ave. at the southwest corner of 28th Street, two blocks north of Madison Square Park, is being converted to 30 one- to three-bedroom apartments. Two developers, Henry Hay and Harlan Berger, added two stories to the building, which was built in the early 1900s.Prices range from $900,000 to $4.5 million.

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Landstrom Development is converting the seven-story, mid-block building at 13 E. 30th St. into six residential loft apartments. The building is located between Fifth and Madison avenues. East of this building is a 14-story building at 45 E. 30th St., a pre-war office building that is being converted to a condominium building known as Park South Lofts. The building is located midblock between Madison and Park avenues and will be converted into 40 apartments by American Development Group and Langsman Property Services.

At 88 Madison Ave. near 28th Street is the newly renovated Carlton Hotel. The property was built in 1904 and original 1221 749 1324 760ly known as the Seville Hotel. Over the past three years, the new owners have spent more than $60 million renovating the 311-room hotel. The hotel renovations were designed by David Rockwell.

The first residential tower adjacent to Madison Square Park at the intersection of Broadway and 23rd Street was the 424-unit Madison Green at 5 E. 22nd St. The property was developed by Rose Associates and was originally planned as a residential rental tower. The 31-story building was completed in 1982 on a site that was previously owned by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The second tower was the Stanford, located between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue South at 45 E. 25th St. It is west of the New York State Appellate Division Courthouse. The condominium tower, which contains 120 apartments, was completed by developer Arun Bhatia in 1986.

A great number of office buildings in the surrounding area have been sold over the past 24 months. Investors have purchased these properties with plans to convert class B office space into residential condominiums. As more homebuyers seek apartments, neighborhoods such as Madison Square Park, Flatiron, and Park Avenue South have become a few of the most desirable in Manhattan.

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