The public caught its first glimpse of Brooklyn Bridge Park last week when portions of Pier 6 were opened for tours as part of the Atlantic Antic street festival.

What residents saw were the foundations for playground structures, half-finished swings and a plethora of strewn-about construction material. The view should change by the end of the year, when the Brooklyn Bride Park Development Corporation (BBPDC) promises to open Pier 1 and parts of Pier 6.

In the meantime, curious Brooklyn residents were treated to a walk around a site that has the potential to become one of the city’s most spectacular open spaces.

The Star was also granted an exclusive tour of Pier 1, which remains closed to the public.

“When the park is finished it will look nothing like you see right now,” said Nicholas Elkovitch, of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the firm which designed the 85-acre park space, as he led a group of roughly twenty people around Pier 6.

The pier will feature the park’s entry promenade, a broad pathway beginning at the western end of Atlantic Avenue with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.

Off the promenade to either side will be a field of swing sets, and a landscaped area with an elevated slide, sandboxes, a water play space, and a marsh garden.

Over at Pier 1, a landscape of hills and open space is slowly taking shape.

A paved road from Fulton Ferry landing slopes up an artificial hill with inlaid stone steps facing the East River. The area will be landscaped with trees. Nearby, a grove of saplings awaits planting.

The park will stretch from the end of Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street.

In all, said Regina Myer, BBPDC’s president, $225 million has been secured by the state and city to fund two-thirds of the planned-for park. Money must still be raised for Piers 2,3, and the rest of Pier 6. Meyer said the remaining funding should become available once most of the park is finished.

“My expectation is that once we [open some sections] people will clamor for the park to be finished,” she said.

For Meyer, the public tours were an important first step towards finishing a project that has been more than 20 years in the making. Brooklyn residents have called for a waterfront park along this section of the East River since the 1980’s.

“I know that it will become an incredibly enduring” public space, Meyer said.

After taking the tour, Brooklyn Heights resident Antonio Kenyatta said he can’t wait for the park to open. “I’m looking forward to bringing my children down here,” he said. “This is something Brooklyn needs.”

John Sanchez, also of Brooklyn Heights, said the park would be an improvement over the closed-down Port Authority piers complex it is replacing. “I’m very anxious to see how it turns out,” Sanchez said.