Downtown Brooklyn's residential population is growing.

A report by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership indicated that in the last decade the area's population has approximately tripled to about 9,000 people and that by this year's end it may top 16,700 residents and 28 condo and rental apartment buildings have been erected since 2007, according to an article in today's edition of The New York Post by Rich Calder.

"These projects totaled about $3 billion in private investment," the article continued, "and there could be many more in the pipelines, as the economic downtown has stalled 30 other projects planned for the area."

The article said that by 2012 the area's population could grow by another 4,000 to 8,000. The area is bounded by Tillary Street, Cadman Plaza, Court Street, Ashland Place and Atlantic Avenue.

"It would have been a stretch to call Downtown Brooklyn a residential neighborhood a decade ago, or even a year and a half ago," Joe Chan, the president of the civic organization, was quoted in the article as stating, adding that he thinks "we are hitting critical mass now, and over the next 18 months we'll be seeing things here that we've never seen before: thousands of people on the street after 8 PM., new retail stores and additional neighborhood services like drugstores, grocery stores."

"While the condo market has struggled, Chan credits Downtown Brookyln's surge to a strong rental market," the article maintained, adding that "Of the 5,367 residential units built since 2004, 62 percent are being marketed as rentals. This includes luxury complexes like Avalon Fort Greene, 80 De Kalb and the Brooklyner."