Was: Two cramped apartments divided by a structural wall.
Is: A light-filled two-bedroom with a 50-foot living room.

Was: Two prewar apartments on Fifth Avenue.
Is: One 6,000-square-foot fantasyland.

Was: A boarded-up East Village brownstone.
Is: A white-box condominium with nothing to hide.

Was: Dilapidated room in a Prospect Heights brownstone.
Is: Master bathroom with a working fireplace.

Was: A cramped two-bedroom suffering from decades of neglect.
Is: An immaculate— and suddenly spacious—one-bedroom loft.

Was: A forlorn-looking brick terrace.
Is: A green sanctuary with living canopy.

Seven stories of remarkable transformations.

After a long, cold year, the first green shoots are appearing in the new-development tundra. Here are six fresh unveilings—along with the sellers’ strategies for managing a tough market.

Retail activity has slowed throughout New York, but one neighborhood is still a commercial powerhouse.

Buildings that sold for $500 million in 2007 may now be worth half that. And vultures are circling giddily in the air.