On the southern most tip of Manhattan is the community of Battery Park City. The community is actually situated upon 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt and rock that was excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center.

In the late 1950's, in an effort to reclaim the dilapidated shipping piers an initial proposal for a landfill was suggested. The then Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, wanted to develop part of the area as a separate project. A compromise between the mayor of NYC, the private firms involved and the Governor was reached and the idea for Battery Park City was implemented. The Battery Park City Authority was created to oversee the development of this community.

Bordered to the east by West Street and the north, south and west by the Hudson River tidal estuary, Battery Park consists of roughly, five major sections. The World Financial Center is centrally located amongst the five "neighborhoods". To the north is the "North Residential Neighborhood" (no acronym yet) which consists of high rise residential buildings, a shopping mall and Stuyvesant High School.

Traveling south of the World Financial Center, is where you will find the majority of the residents. The Gateway Plaza, a high rise building complex, Rector Place and Battery Place, both low rise complexes. An interesting feature of Battery Park City is that there are none of the classic brownstones or tenement buildings that are found throughout the rest of NYC. Having been created basically from the ground up in the 1960's, all the buildings are modern high rises.

Because of it's close proximity to the Financial District, residents of the luxury condominium and loft buildings consist mostly of Wall Street business women and men and their families. The infrastructure of Battery Park City is geared towards the Wall Street crowd, with numerous gyms, golf and other sport facilities available the residents don't have to go far to work out the stress of their day on Wall Street.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 had a major impact on the community as more than two thirds of the residents fled the area due to the concern from the dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and damaged residential buildings. The City has worked diligently to clear the area and much of the damage has been repaired. Residents are returning to Battery Park City due to government subsidiaries and reduced rents.