Lenders have noticed a difference in the market too. “Manhattan has always been the most attractive part of the city to real estate investors and bond buyers,” contended Bill Weber, managing director of Cantor Commercial Real Estate. “Now, trophy properties in the boroughs, can serve as the anchors to a pool of CMBS loans.”

Meanwhile, David Brause, president of Brause Realty and chairman of the Long Island City Business Improvement District, also is seeing interest in Queens' Long Island City neighborhood hit new heights, prompting his company to even look beyond the area.

"There's about a 4.8% vacancy rate in Long Island City office, so there's not even much there. We're looking at far flung suburbs. The fact that you're seeing RXR, Jamestown Properties and Vornado Realty Trust buy office properties in Long Island City away and upgrading the heck out of them is kind of amazing. What Jamestown did for Chelsea Market in Manhattan is what it's going to do with the Falchi Building, where it's bringing in artisanal food tenants.”

Nachmani is watching what happens next in the more industrial corners of Brooklyn, he said. “Let's see what happens in Gowanus, where prices are north of $200 per square foot. If we see a rezoning there or there begins to be residential properties, then you may see a relocation to Industry City.”

The latter area is “ripe for development,” noted Pinsky, who has his sights set on some surprising markets. “We're looking at industrial property in Maspeth, Queens and we're looking at a property in East New York.

He continued, "I've always felt that St. George, in Staten Island, is a neighborhood that's been waiting for its moment. It's one ferry stop away from the Lower East Side, and one million tourists ride the Staten Island Ferry every year.

The ferris wheel and other attractions coming there will become an excuse for them to get off of the ferry and visit the area. When the mall opens there, I think people will be shocked by the transformation of the neighborhood.