Brick apartment towers face a paved esplanade on landfill along the Hudson, with lawns, a marina and open harbor water.
What Battery Park City looks like
Brick apartment towers of twenty to forty five storeys stand in orange brick along a flat, planned grid on landfill above the Hudson. runs through the middle of the neighborhood, with ground floor shops and cafes under the towers and few cars on the street. Glass and stone office towers rise at the southern end near Brookfield Place, taller and more corporate than the housing blocks around them.
A paved esplanade runs the full length of the waterfront, from at the north end down to Battery Park. Iron railings and light poles line the walkway, with benches set to face west across open harbor water toward Jersey City and the Statue of Liberty.
sits at the esplanade's north end. It has a brick paved path under rows of trees, with lawns and a ball field between the towers. sits at the south end, smaller and more formal, with clipped hedges and sculptures set along its paths. is a narrow strip of lawn and trees pressed against the office towers near Brookfield Place.
is the yacht harbor beside Brookfield Place, closed since 2025 for a flood protection rebuild that is expected to run past 2030, its docks cleared of boats with the Hudson and the Jersey City skyline still open behind them. A covered footbridge connects Brookfield Place to the World Trade Center site across West Street.
Shot in Battery Park City
North Cove, the yacht harbor beside Brookfield Place, has stood in for itself across three decades of film. Hitch and Friends with Benefits both use its docks as a real Manhattan marina, and so does The Wolf of Wall Street. Prince of Tides shot along the esplanade a few blocks south in 1990.
Hitch, 2005
North Cove Marina
Alex Hitchens brings Sara to North Cove for a 7am date, then the two head out by motorboat toward Ellis Island. The marina's own docks and the harbor beyond are what the camera shows. Street View
Friends with Benefits, 2011
Tommy Bollinger meets Dylan for a pickup basketball game at North Cove before slipping into a speedboat bound for New Jersey. The courts sit at the marina's edge, with the yachts and the water behind them.
The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013
Agent Denham visits Belfort aboard the yacht Naomi, docked at North Cove near the World Financial Center. The boat itself is the Lady M, standing in only as a different yacht, not a different place.
What Battery Park City can double for
Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Puerto Madero's converted brick dock buildings sit beside new glass towers along a planned waterside promenade, the same combination of old material and new highrise found here. The wide paved walkway along the water looks almost identical in a longer shot. Puerto Madero's water is a narrower dock canal rather than an open river, so a wide shot that reveals the far bank gives away the difference. Keep the water at the frame's edge rather than centred. Try searching glass towers and dock buildings now.
Canary Wharf's cluster of glass office towers over reclaimed dockland water shares this neighborhood's planned grid and its scale against the water. Wood Wharf's newer residential towers add the same orange brick note along its own waterside path. Canary Wharf's docks are enclosed basins with lock gates rather than a tidal river, so a frame that includes the water's edge should avoid showing where it ends. Try searching glass office towers over water now.
Marina del Rey's docks hold the same mix of motor yachts and sailboats as North Cove, with low apartment blocks rather than towers rising behind them. A frame tight on the boats and the water could pass for a marina on any coast. Marina del Rey has no highrise skyline behind it, so a wider shot that includes the horizon gives it away immediately. Keep the apartment towers out of frame and stay close on the boats and the dock. Try searching yacht marina with apartment blocks now.
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