by Brianna Crandall — March 15, 2013— SHoP Architects, designer of the Barclays Center, has released its design for a creative new development along the Brooklyn, New York, waterfront at the site of the Domino Sugar refinery in Williamsburg. Prepared for Dumbo developer Two Trees Management, the “unconventional” design is vastly different than the original layout proposed in 2004 by CPC Resources and the Katan Group, which comprised a largely residential development with five new high rises, a redeveloped refinery, and a narrow park between the two.
SHoP Architects’ $1.5 billion plan envisions four new buildings and the redevelopment of the original refinery building, the “nerve center” of the project, which would be used for office space. One building would house both residential and commercial space; two more would hold just apartments, with one of them reaching about 60 stories; and the project’s centerpiece would house luxury apartments, for a total of 2,284 residential units in all the buildings.
The proposal calls for 630,000 square feet of office space rather than 100,000 in the former design. Like the original plan, the new design features 660 units of affordable housing, but unlike the original or other nearby developments, residents in the affordable housing units would have access to the same amenities as those in the market-rate units.
The new proposal increases the amount of park space from 3.29 to 5.25 acres and extends River Street between the buildings and the park in order to create “a really well-utilized public waterfront park,” named Domino Square.
The new Domino also features a school, a recreation center and ground-floor retail units intended for “small-scale, independently owned” businesses, preferably artists who would in turn attract wealthier residents.
If the project gains government approvals this year, Two Trees’ plan is to start construction in 2013 and to complete the whole project in the next 10 to 15 years.
