Here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan we’ve kept an eagle-eye on the recently-calm state of the luxury rental market for you, although we'll admit that at times it was like watching paint dry. Month after month, and well into the anticipated warm-weather boom period, Manhattan rental stats remained boldly, brazenly blah -- up a healthy percentage over last year's counterparts, but inching up only a fraction of a percent month to month. Sure, we warned that a bump in Manhattan rental prices was coming -- we're a blog about Manhattan real estate, and as such know what's coming. But after months of the same warnings, a sort of a chicken little vibe became almost inescapable. As we’ve previously noted, rents barely rose month-to-month this year as landlords have remained prudent, hedging their bets on a a strong spring eliminating the last vestiges of ennui from the market. And now, as June dawns in a flurry of sticky 90 degree days, it seems like spring has finally sprung in the Manhattan luxury rental marketplace.

There are a great many reasons to look for a luxury rental in Gramercy Park -- greater Gramercy is a beautiful neighborhood with plenty of nice restaurants, some charmingly low-key nightspots and several really nice rental apartment listings. But as much as we at Luxury Rentals Manhattan love us some Lex Lofts or Park 23, there's one thing that a rental apartment in Gramercy will never boast: access to the actual Gramercy Park. Keys to Gramercy Park are among the most elusive prizes in Manhattan real estate, and even people who own their apartments on Gramercy Park are denied keys. If you don't own one of the 39 town houses surrounding Gramercy Park, the best you can hope for is to look through the high, wrought-iron fence surrounding Gramercy Park's eponymous green space. But will it always be thus?