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Thirty years ago, architect Stanton Eckstut and his partner were asked to create a vision -- to design a new area in Manhattan built on the landfill left from the foundations of the World Trade Center. Fast forward 30 years, and his dream for Battery Park City is nearly complete.

"There was a vision coming from the Lower Manhattan Business Group and the governor and all to have people live downtown, walk to work and to imagine housing on all the riverfronts on both sides of Lower Manhattan," said Eckstut.

That vision started in the 1960s, but had many false starts. Most of the early plans called for an area very different from the rest of New York. But in 1979, Eckstut and his team created a plan that made it an extension of the the city instead.

"We took all the Lower Manhattan streets and let them naturally go in the direction they already were towards the river. We connected them north, south by a kind of reinterpretation of Broadway and then we connected everything at the waters edge with parks," said Eckstut.

"When you go from the Brooklyn Heights streets to the esplanade you don't know when you leave the streets end and enter the parks . They are totally woven together and it's a very beautiful experience particular at times when you are alone at dusk or dawn, and these are magical moments and we thought that was a New York tradition," said Eckstut.

Once the plans were set, the project evolved and changed as it was developed -- the original plans had no schools and less open space.

Elizabeth Berger of the Alliance for Downtown New York says Battery Park City is now a destination.

"It's a place where people live, where people work. It's a cultural destination. It's a retail destination and is integrated into the live, work, visit fabric of Lower Manhattan," said Berger.

Thirty years later, the development in Battery Park City is nearly complete. And the man who started it all will finish it. Eckstut and his team were asked to design the final two buildings set to go up.

Already under construction, the project is the first to combine private and public interests into one. The two residential towers will be connected by a community center at the base and Eckstut hopes this final touch will enrich the neighborhood the same way his original plan did 30 years ago.