Williamsburg’s Domino Sugar factory project moves on to public review

The Community Preservation Corporation’s proposed $1.2 billion redevelopment of Williamsburg’s Domino Sugar factory has been certified by the Department of City Planning, pushing the project forward into an eight-month public review process. The project, which would create a 2,200-unit waterfront apartment complex, would require the site to be rezoned from manufacturing to residential. The project’s unusually high rate of affordable units — 30 percent, or 660, of its units will be designated for below market rate housing, while only 440 would be required by current zoning — is expected to help it through the approval process. The CPC bought the site, on Kent Avenue just north of the Williamsburg Bridge, in 2004 after Domino shut down. While some are skeptical that there will ever be enough demand for 1,600 additional luxury units in Williamsburg, others have welcomed the CPC’s promise to reserve more rental units for lower-income families than other affordable projects, including 100 units for families making just $21,000 per year and 330 for families making up to $40,000. [Brooklyn Paper]