I wouldn't say the shard is dead, but there's enough room that with a little effort you can easily place a decent sized house for much less than it would cost to buy one.
Not long ago I placed an 18x18 right in that same area. (I live just about a screen and a half southeast of you.) And off hand I know of about half a dozen places where you could drop a house on Catskills.
Good luck though.