The focus seems to make sense: Not only is the area near the ferry to Manhattan, but it is served by the Staten Island Railway, which connects to the ferry terminal in St. George. Developers are betting that transplants will prefer to travel the way people do elsewhere in the city, using public transportation as much as possible. Neighborhoods farther west are primarily automobile territory.

Some developments have been years in the making and unable to stay on schedule, which developers and brokers say has in turn delayed the gentrification of surrounding blocks. But if the pace of progress has been halting, this year could mark a turning point, with major projects starting construction, hundreds of new apartments coming to market, and online searches for Staten Island homes jumping off the charts — a strong indicator of future sales.

Last week, groundbreaking ceremonies took place for a $350 million project in St. George: Empire Outlets, a mall and entertainment complex. The New York Wheel, a 630-foot-tall Ferris wheel that has been compared with the London Eye, also was to break ground in St. George last week, but at the last minute announced a delay. Richard A. Marin, the president of the company formed to develop the $500 million project, said he had about $200 million in loans and equity in place, but hundreds of millions in other loans still have to be finalized. “I will get my moment in the sun in a few weeks,” he said.

The outlets, the first of their kind in the city, are taking aim at the hordes of foreign tourists who ride the ferries for views of the Statue of Liberty. The project has already been marketed in Germany, Italy and France, with a similar push planned for more than a dozen other countries, according to project officials.

But the sloping eight-acre site, developed by a team led by BFC Partners, will replace the massive parking lots that now sever much of the neighborhood’s downtown from its waterfront.