Though the neighborhood was virtually devoid of full-time residents many years ago, there is now a plethora of residential apartments in TriBeCa, or the TRIangle BElow Canal. This neighborhoodhas since changed into one of the hottest and hippest places in which to live - which is even more impressive considering that it was originally used as a market area.

The history of apartment renting in TriBeCa, however, goes back to when land in this area was originally owned by Trinity Church (which still sits at the beginning of Wall Street). The land was given to the church when America was still a colony of England. The church then divided up the area into lots and allowed people to lease them for long periods of time.

When the rents in nearby SoHo began going higher, the artists who had originally settled in apartments in SoHo needed to find other locales to work and live in. The market area, with its undeveloped raw spaces, was a natural fit and so the artists began looking for apartments in TriBeCa.Soon the cycle that began in SoHo began again in what was now becoming present-day TriBeCa.

As Manhattan climbed out of the economic downturn of the 1970s, more and more professionals and businesses started looking for apartments inTriBeCa and live-work loft spaces in TriBeCa. Eventually, TriBeCa real estate achieved the current level of hotness for which it is recognized today.