Elghanayan: It’s headed toward Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There’s Vernon Boulevard, and it’s almost like a mini Smith Street. There are boutiques, restaurants and it’s headed in the right direction and has great transportation. Then for our Center Boulevard developments, we are very keen on developing the right retail. We’ve been putting in a Duane Reade, a high-end food market, an Asian-Fusion restaurant, a liquor store and things like that. Overall the Long Island City down on Vernon Boulevard and west toward the river is going to be great. You’ll see 35 developments in that neighborhood, mostly smaller apartments, but they are really sprouting up. Also we gave land to the New York City School Construction Authority and they are building a K-8 school. That’s also a great thing for the neighborhood.

GlobeSt.com: What transactions are you working on along Manhattan’s Far West Side?

Elghanayan: We assembled three large sites and we built altogether 1,500 units. For the third site, my brother Henry [from Rockrose] ended up with in the split and he’s sort of sitting on that one. I think it’s a great plan. When the 7 line comes in, it’s going to be wonderful. And I’m looking at other projects in that area and I think they are going to happen. That’s really the next real frontier in Manhattan. Right now we are putting in a large 10,000-square-foot Arc restaurant in our building at 505 West 37^th St. and 10^th Avenue. It’s a very upscale thing, and that’ll be a big boost. We put in a Duane Reade across the street and a grocery store. We’re up-and-running.

GlobeSt.com: On the multifamily front, given the S&P Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac downgrade, will this change your business in the rental and condo space in any way?

Elghanayan: Very little. It just moved their spreads up only by five basis points, which is small. To us, though we’ve done Freddie and Fannie deals, especially back in 2009 and 2010 when you couldn’t get financing anywhere else, now there are lots of other sources. I don’t anticipate us doing much Freddie and Fannie business anyway because other people are more competitive.

GlobeSt.com: In what property sector are you seeing the most growth and why?

Elghanayan: Multifamily is going to do really well. Just looking at what’s happened in the last six months in our rent growth, it has been astronomical. Rents have gone way up after taking a huge dive in 2009 and 2010. They went down by about 20%, and now it’s gradually creeping up. It’s not back to where it was, but it’s coming up pretty rapidly.

GlobeSt.com: What NYC neighborhoods are you eyeing next for future developments?

Elghanayan: Down in the Financial District. There are a lot of sites down there and a lot of obsolete office buildings. There’s opportunity downtown, both conversions and ground-up. We have a lot of buildings downtown, so when I go down there, I see more and more moms pushing baby carriages, people walking dogs and more retail and restaurants catering to that market. It’s turning into what former Mayor Rudy Giuliani years ago tried to envision, which was a 24/7 community. It was doing great until 9/11, and then 9/11 was a huge setback for downtown, especially the residential side. A lot of people said they’d never live there just from the trauma. And now it’s gradually starting to creep back.