New York's iconic skyline will look incredibly different in just a few years

Anyone who has walked through Midtown Manhattan in the past year has probably noticed the construction cranes and scaffolding crowding the sidewalks: The area is in the midst of a skyscraper boom.

The new construction is so dramatic - and happening so fast - that the city's skyline could be completely transformed in a matter of years.

The change will be particularly robust around 57th Street, where six new luxury high rises are under construction, casting long shadows over Central Park and earning the street the nickname "Billionaires' Row."

One57 already stands at 1,005 feet, making it one of the city's tallest residential towers. That title was recently surpassed by 432 Park, which will top out at 1,396 feet and where a condo recently broke records for selling for $100.5 million. Nordstrom Tower will reportedly rise 1,775 feet in the air when it's completed in several years.

The rendering below, from construction-tracking site New York YIMBY, shows what the south-facing view of the city will look like from Central Park in 2020, just six years from now.

Skeptics say the new buildings will block views and cast long shadows across Central Park. But that hasn't slowed development at all. The top rendering shows the park today; the bottom shows what it will look like when construction is finished (courtesy of the Municipal Art Society of New York).

While the biggest boom is taking place around the southern border of Central Park, there are new skyscrapers going up all over New York City. To get a better idea of how new construction will transform the central part of Manhattan in the next few years, take a look at these before-and-after images from RentCafe.

The "before" image below is from 2007. It shows Lincoln Square, at 62nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, slightly to the north and west of "billionaires' row." The "after" image include Hawthorn Park, a luxury rental highrise.

 Nearby, also on the lower portion of the Upper West Side, four luxury residential towers have risen in recent years. 40 Riverside Boulevard, The Aldyn, The Rushmore, and The Ashley, all on Riverside South, were constructed after 2007, according to RentCafe.

 MiMA, a mixed-use building at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue, transformed the neighborhood when it was completed in 2011. The tower is 63 stories tall.

 It's all part of the cycle in the City that Never Sleeps.