Part of Sixth Avenue in Troy has been re-named to honor the late Walter Uccellini, a Troy businessman and real estate developer. YNN's Erin Vannella attended the re-naming ceremony and tells us the latest on Sixth Avenue construction.

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TROY, N.Y. -- "Walter was a true visionary, an entrepreneur, always put family first," said his son, Michael Uccellini. "He was a tough negotiator and he was known as a finisher."

So finish, they will, for him. Troy and United Group continue phase three of their $40 plus million downtown redevelopment project on Sixth Avenue stopping Wednesday to pay tribute to the man behind the vision.

"He loved his time at RPI," said Michael Uccellini. "He valued the education he got there, as well as the City of Troy, and he wanted to give back to his community and for him this was a way to do that."

Walter F. Uccellini died in a plane crash August 15th, but not before dedicating years of his life to helping Troy. The city is 24 months deep now into his plan for new student housing, shopping and parking and it's going so well they decided to name the street after him.

"We're going to have more people that stay in the county, more people that come to the county and the businesses that you see springing up as a result of that will be supported by those new people," said Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino.

"These three structures together, that's the positive," said Troy Mayor Lou Rosamilia. "And it's the vision of Walter that made it all possible. So if you look at it from the sentimental point of view, we're making sure that his legacy lives on."

The third phase costs $13 million and will be finished August 2013, treating Walter's fellow Red Hawks to a bigger slice of downtown living.

"It is very heartfelt to have this street dedicated to my dad in his name," said Michael Uccellini. "We worked together tirelessly on this development together. It's exciting for us and for the city and RPI."