Parking lots and garages are becoming the dinosaurs of the 21st century.

Last Friday, a residential developer purchased a 10,000-square-foot parking lot at the southeast corner of West 44th Street and Tenth Avenue. According to the trade the property sold for about $310 a buildable foot. Rockrose Development is a family-owned and operated real estate company. Last May, the company paid $10 million, or $200 a buildable foot, for a parking lot at Tenth Avenue and West 37th Street. In June, the company bought 80,000 square feet of land occupied by parking lots and old buildings. The company plans to build residential condominiums on the site. At the northeast corner of West 34th Street and Tenth Avenue, a 10,000-square-foot site, formerly home to a gas station and garage, is being marketed for sale. Later this month, a garage site, occupied by Quick Park at 320-328 W. 38th St., is expected to be sold for $55 million. A six-story garage at 19-25 W. 20th St., with about 90,000 square feet of building space, is expected to fetch close to $40 million.

Many of the garage sites throughout the city have a zoning classification of M-1.Investors who buy these sites have the right to build hotels, or can apply for a change of zoning to residential. One of the most active developers of limited service hotels is the principal of McSam Hotels, Sam Chang. In December, Mr. Chang purchased a 6,476-square-foot parking lot at 121-125 W. 26th St. in Chelsea. He paid $9.3 million and can build a 64,760-square-foot hotel. Last month, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts purchased a 6,000-square-foot parking lot at 307-311 W. 46th St. off Eighth Avenue.

Last year, the joint venture of LCOR and CalSTRS purchased a parking lot from Con Edison at the intersection of West 24th Street and Sixth Avenue. Later this year, the developers plan to begin construction of a 37-story, 191-unit condominium tower.

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A number of nonprofits own parking lots in the city. In December 2004, NYU Downtown Hospital sold the parking lot adjacent to the hospital to an affiliate of Forest City Ratner for about $85 million. The company plans to build a 75-story residential tower on the site. Within the tower will be a 100,000-square-foot public school expected to serve 600 children in grades K-8 in the Frank Gehry-designed building. A few weeks ago, Forest City Ratner and Hilton Hotels sold the 440-room retail and entertainment complex known as the Hilton Times Square at 234 W. 42nd St. San Francisco-based Sunstone Hotel Investors paid $242.5 million, or $545,171 a room, for the Times Square property, which was completed in June 2000.

North General Hospital, a 200-bed voluntary community hospital founded in 1970, is located at 1879 Madison Ave. on the border of East Harlem and Central Harlem. In March 2004, the Mount Sinai Medical Center and North General Hospital established a hospital-to-hospital clinical alliance. Directly behind the hospital is a parking lot on Park Avenue between 121st and 122nd streets. The hospital is planning to sell the lot to a developer who will build a parking lot, about 40,000 square feet of community space, and a 15-story residential condominium tower.

Two blocks away is the headquarters of the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. In January 2003, it entered into a lease of the parking lot behind the college at Park Avenue between 124th and 125th streets. Recently, the college announced it may sell the parking lot, clinic, and college, and relocate. A joint venture of MacFarlane Partners, Vornado Realty Trust, and Integrated Holdings are reportedly in negotiations to buy the site. Later this year the first tenants are expected to move into 445 Lafayette St., a 21-story, 39-unit residential condominium designed by Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel on a parking lot site owned by Cooper Union. In 2002, Cooper Union signed a 99-year lease agreement with the Related Companies for the site at Astor Place, Lafayette Street, and Fourth Avenue. Units in the building are selling for nearly $2,000 a square foot.

The estate of the late Edward Gordon owned a 24,750-square-foot parking lot site at 246 Spring St. at Varick Street in SoHo. In November 2004 it sold the site, which was zoned for manufacturing, to Crescent Heights, one of the nation’s premier condo companies, for $26 million. The new owners were able to rezone the property for about 300,000 square feet of residential. In September 2005,Crescent Heights sold the property to a joint venture of Bayrock and Zar Realty for $72 million. The new owners plan to build a 44-story, five-star condominium hotel. In September, Crescent Heights sold its renovation of 25 Broad St., a residential rental building, to Swig Equities, which plans to convert the property into condominiums.

Last September a 10-story garage at 99 Washington St. at Rector Place was sold for $90 million, or $280 a buildable foot. Initially the owner planned to construct a 38-story hotel. According to the trade, the property may be sold to a residential developer who plans to build a condominium.

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Edison Properties, a major owner and operator of parking lots and garages, owns a 377-space parking lot leased by the Drug Enforcement Administration at 501 W. 17th St. The company has applied for a permit from the city’s Planning Commission to redevelop the lot into two towers with about 869 condo apartments. Edison is planning to build a mixed-use 80/20 rental apartment building at 188 Ludlow St., across from the famed Katz’s Delicatessen. In January 2001, Edison and the Rockefeller Group Development Corporation entered an agreement to jointly develop 50 Commercial St., a 22-story, 350,000-square-foot office tower. The site is adjacent to Newark Penn Station in Newark, N.J.

Later this year, the first tenants are expected to move into One Kenmare Square at 210 Lafayette Street in SoHo, a residential condominium developed by Andre Balazs and Cape Advisors. Edison sold the property to the developers in 2001. This summer, another developer, Lev Boymelgreen, is expected to finish the 352-unit rental apartment building at 88 Leonard St. and Broadway. The site previously was a parking lot owned by Edison Properties that Edison leased to the developers for 99 years.The developers plan to build a 21-story, 352-unit rental building and received $112.5 million in Liberty Bond financing.

In December the first hotel guests arrived at the 357-room Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square. The 36-story hotel is part of Bryant Park Tower, a 45-story mixed-use development at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 39th Street. The property was developed by MG Hotels. A significant portion of the site previously served as the home of Meyers Parking garage. Later this year, J.D. Carlisle Development Corporation is scheduled to begin construction on a $500 million hotel and residential condominium development at West 29th Street and Sixth Avenue. The site is currently a parking lot. The 250-room hotel will be managed by Ireland based Fitzpatrick Group.

Construction of residential condos and hotels is driving the record pace of development on parking lot sites in the city. Land prices are reaching highs of close to $500 a developable foot, leading condominium units to be priced at more than $1,200 a square foot.

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.