First Domino Sugar Refinery Tower at 325 Kent Avenue Now Rising Above Williamsburg
After breaking ground last spring, the first tower of Two Trees’ three million-square-foot Domino Sugar Refinery Master Plan has finally lifted out of the ground. Addressed 325 Kent Avenue (Site E), the 400,000-square-foot building rises one block inland from the East River waterfront and the remaining five parcels of the master plan. The future 16-story, 189-foot-tall project covers three-quarters of its block bound by Kent and Wythe Avenues and South 3rd and 4th Streets. All in all, the two-winged tower will hold a whopping 522 rental units, making it the second largest residential building in Williamsburg after the also-in-construction 2 North 6th Street.
SHoP Architects are the building’s designers, as well as the master planners of the entire Domino Sugar Factory redevelopment scheme. Not unlike Bjarke Ingels’ “courtscraper,” Via 57 West, 325 Kent hosts a central courtyard and its bulk gradually descends in scale as it approaches its low-rise confines near Wythe Avenue (this is opposed to Via 57 which slopes downward towards the waterfront). SHoP’s tower rises from a large five-story base appropriately clad in red brick, complementing the saved 1884 Domino Factory building across Kent Ave. The podium will hold several retail spaces, 750 parking spaces (yikes), and some of the building’s amenities. The two tower wings are setback from the base and are sheathed in metal panels, but carry a similar variegated fenestration pattern as the floors below. Apartments begin at the third level, and unit counts per floor range from 56 apartments on the fourth floor to 24 apartments on the 15th floor. Along the Kent Avenue side, the three highest levels bridge the two wings together. The uppermost sixteenth level will be an amenity floor for residents.
Construction shots via 6sqft
Now already on its third level, the building should be topped off by the end of the summer and completion is anticipated for sometime next year. There will be 105 below-market rate units and a housing lottery will launch later this year.
Ultimately, the Domino Sugar Factory Redevelopment is slated to take a decade to complete and will altogether yield 2,300 apartments, 500,000 square feet of commercial space and a new school. James Corner Field Operations have been tapped as the landscape designers and will shape a much anticipated quarter-mile long public waterfront park, which will incorporate some of the sugar processing plant’s artifacts.
Find future listings for 325 Kent Avenue at CityRealty.
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