From left: 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue

A trio of Upper East Side developments will test the traditional northern boundary for luxury buildings, the Financial Times reported.

The projects — 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue — will test the East 96th Street line Manhattanites have long considered the separation between the Upper East Side and Harlem. But the new developments offer the amenities of buildings to the south and all three were designed by “brand-name” architects. While 1280 Fifth Avenue and 4 East 102nd Street are new developments, by Brickman and Durst Fetner Residential, respectively, 1212 Fifth Avenue is a conversion.

The Robert Stern-designed 1280 Fifth, the furthest north, at 109th Street, is anchored by the African Museum of Art. [more]

From left: 1200 Fifth Avenue, 1212 Fifth Avenue and 1280 Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue north of 96th Street is finally becoming a developed, mature neighborhood, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Long home to middle-class residents, many of whom were employed by nearby Mount Sinai Medical Center, the area between Carnegie Hill and Harlem had resisted the luxury and expensive development that proliferated to the south. Now the area is home to new condominiums, foreigners buying in to those buildings and new museums. The only trailing component is retail. [more]