Domino Sugar Redevelopment Moves Forward

The redevelopment of the Domino sugar refinery into 2,200 apartments is set to move forward following an approval yesterday by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The commission's approval ends a months-long clash with the developer, Community Preservation Corporation Resources.

In March, the commission refused to approve the project's initial layout, which did not include the iconic "Domino Sugar" sign, long regarded as a defining feature of the Williamsburg skyline.

The revised layout reduces the size of the glass addition to the roof of the 126-year-old landmarked building and incorporates the famous sign.

"This is a brilliant, adaptive re-use plan with significant improvements from the other iterations we've seen," the commission's chairman, Robert Tierney, said at yesterday's hearing.

The commission approved the project by a 7-1 vote. The one dissenter, Margery Perlmutter, called the design "genteel" and "too polite" for the remake of an industrial building.

The director of policy for the Municipal Art Society, Lisa Kersavage, said the design constituted an improvement over earlier plans, but she said, "Its still a very substantial addition. I think we would've hoped to have seen it a good deal smaller."

The Community Preservation Corporation Resources wants to develop 220,000 square feet of residential, industrial, and retail space in the abandoned Domino factory space on the East River, which it bought for $56 million in 2004.

The billion-dollar plan now faces review under the city's uniform land use review process, and because it is situated along the waterfront, further review by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers. The developer hopes to break ground in fall 2009.