[5] The land upon which it is built was created in the 1970s by land reclamation on the Hudson River using over 3 million cubic yards (2.3 million cubic meters) of soil and rock excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center,[6] the New York City Water Tunnel, and certain other construction projects, as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island.

Battery Park City is bounded on the east by West Street, which separates the area from the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.

Traveling north to south, the first neighborhood has high-rise residential buildings, the Stuyvesant High School, a Regal Entertainment Group movie theater, and the Battery Park City branch of the New York Public Library.

[9][10] Other restaurants located in that hotel, as well as a DSW store and a New York Sports Club branch, were closed in 2009 after the takeover of the property by Goldman Sachs.

Current residential neighborhoods of Battery Park City are divided into northern and southern sections, separated by Brookfield Place.

Construction of residential buildings began north of the World Financial Center in the late 1990s, and completion of the final lots took place in early 2011.

[12] The Battery Tower project was left unfinished after workers digging the foundation ran into forty feet of old bulkheads, sunken docks, and ships.

[6] The initial proposal to reclaim this area through landfill was offered in the early-1960s by private firms and supported by the mayor, part of a long history of Lower Manhattan expansion.

[20] That same year, the city approved plans to alter the number of apartments designated for lower, middle and upper income renters.

[22] After removal of the piers, wooden piles and overburden of silt, the northern portion (north of, and including the marina) was filled with sand dredged from areas adjacent to Ambrose Channel in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as stone from the construction of Water Tunnel #3.

[38] The newly completed development was lauded by The New York Times as "a triumph of urban design",[39] with the World Financial Center being deemed "a symbol of change".

[38] During early construction, two acres of land in the southern section of the Battery Park landfill was used by artist Agnes Denes to plant wheat in an exhibition titled Wheatfield – A Confrontation.

[41] It was created during a six-month period in the spring, summer, and fall of 1982 when Denes, with the support of the Public Art Fund, planted the field of wheat on rubble-strewn land near Wall Street and the World Trade Center site.

Denes stated that her "decision to plant a wheatfield in Manhattan, instead of designing just another public sculpture, grew out of a long-standing concern and need to call attention to our misplaced priorities and deteriorating human values.

[45] The Battery Park City Authority, wishing to attract more middle-class residents, started providing subsidies in 1998 to households whose annual incomes were $108,000 or less.

[49] More than half of the area's residents moved away permanently from the community after the adjacent World Trade Center towers collapsed and spread toxic dust, debris, and smoke.

After September 11, 2001, residents of Battery Park City and Tribeca formed the TriBattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor in response to the events of the attacks.

Commercial development includes the 2,100,000-square-foot (200,000 m2) 200 West Street, the Goldman Sachs global headquarters, which began construction in 2005 and opened for occupancy in October 2009.

[14] Battery Park City is owned and managed by the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), a Class A New York State public-benefit corporation created by New York State in 1968 to redevelop outmoded and deteriorated piers, a project that has involved reclaiming the land, replanning the area and facilitating new construction of a mixed commercial and residential community.

[54] Its mission is "to plan, create, coordinate and sustain a balanced community of commercial, residential, retail, and park space within its designated 92-acre site on the lower west side of Manhattan".

[57] The BPCA is invested with substantial powers: it can acquire, hold and dispose of real property, enter into lease agreements, borrow money and issue debt, and manage the project.

[65] It also provided seed financing for the New York Acquisition Fund, a $230 million initiative that aims to serve as a catalyst for the construction and preservation of more than 30,000 units of affordable housing citywide by 2016.

The Battery Park City Authority's main focus turned to maintenance of existing infrastructure, security and conservancy of the public spaces.

[67] Because none of the properties in Battery Park City own the land they are built on, many banks have refused to write loans when those ground leases are periodically up for renewal.

[72]: 13  In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, 4% of residents are obese, 3% are diabetic, and 15% have high blood pressure, the lowest rates in the city—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.

[72]: 6  The percentage of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.

[73]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [72]: 6  Additionally, 96% of high school students in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.

[107] A 10,000-square-foot (930-square-metre), two-story library on the street level of a high-rise residential building,[107] it utilizes several sustainable design features, earning it LEED Gold certification.

[109] The open plan layout and large use of glass allow for ample natural daylight year-round and low-energy LED light illuminates communal spaces.

[111] Design features include a seemingly "floating" origami-style ceiling made up of triangular panels hung at varying angles and a padded reading nook fitted into the library's terrazzo-finished steel and concrete staircase.