Jed Walentas and the Domino Sugar Factory

Union workers are accusing Two Trees Management of hiring a contractor with a suspect past and a history of lawsuits to handle asbestos removal at its massive Domino Sugar Factory redevelopment site in Williamsburg, Gothamist reported.

Local 78, which represents asbestos, lead and hazardous waste laborers, were quite vocal at Wednesday’s Community Board 1 Land Use meeting, according to Gothamist, and said that Two Trees had hired New York Insulation to remove asbestos at the site purely to save money.  [more]

From left: A rendering of the Domino project (credit: SHoP) and Jed Walentas

Two Trees Management’s Jed Walentas is temporarily turning over the Domino Sugar development site in Williamsburg for use as an urban farm, yoga studio, reading room and bicycle course, the Brooklyn Paper reported. The developer will not charge rent for the football field-sized plot, but the operators will need to pay utilities. [more]

From left: Rafael Vinoly’s and SHoP Architects’ designs for the Domino Sugar site. Inset: Raphael Vinoly and SHoP’s Vishaan Chakrabarti

This week Two Trees Management revealed a new vision for its conversion of the Domino Sugar factory site in Williamsburg. Designed by SHoP architects, the revised plan has generally received positive, even enthusiastic reviews. Part of this response was a sense of relief, as the original proposal, designed by Rafael Vinoly, was roundly condemned for its dullness and insensitivity. [more]

A rendering of the Domino Sugar Factory site (Photo c/o SHoP Architects and James Corner Field Operations)

Two Trees’ plan for the former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg will deviate significantly from the already approved plans, and will add 60 percent more open space, create taller and more slender buildings, expand the amount of office space, and allow affordable housing residents to access to the same amenities as people in market-rate apartments, Curbed and Capital New York reported.  [more]

Mercedes House

Two Trees Management has sold the 162 condominium units at the zigzag luxury residential development Mercedes House to Invesco Real Estate for $170 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.The 1.3 million-square-foot, 874-unit building on West 53rd Street at 11th Avenue was built in two phases; the first 16-story, 222 rental unit phase hit the market in April 2011, while the 490 units in the second phase that began renting last year are now close to 80 percent leased, Asher Abehsera, general manager at Two Trees, told the Journal. The second phase also contained high-end condominiums…. [more]

Jed Walentas and the Domino Sugar Factory

Two Trees Management has modified its all-residential plan for the former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg and will now include office space for up to 4,000 workers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company acquired the 11-acre site in October for $185 million and has solicited community input on possible uses. The office proposal, Two Trees principal Jed Walentas told the Journal, would help make the project a more vibrant development than the several apartments-only sites that have sprung up in the neighborhood in recent decades. “They don’t make great urban places, they don’t integrate into the neighborhoods,” Walentas said. … [more]

From left: David Walentas and 66 Water Street

Two Trees Management is facing a lawsuit from a tenant at 66 Water Street, a five-story loft building in Dumbo, Brooklyn, alleging that the landlord has failed to repair extensive damage stemming from the construction of its adjacent Dock Street Dumbo rental. The plaintiff, Michael Brent Lavett, claims in a lawsuit filed Jan. 23 in Brooklyn Supreme Court that the excavation and development of the adjacent site has caused damage to the 23-unit rental property, including concealed leaks and large cracks in the building’s interior walls, split beams in the flooring and other unspecified damage. [more]

A rendering of Two Trees’ BAM project

Two Trees Management’s proposed 32-story residential tower in Downtown Brooklyn’s BAM Cultural District would require a zoning change, Curbed reported. Current zoning allows only 53 percent of the space to be residential, but the developer is looking to build 300 to 400 residential units, which would occupy 86 percent of the floor space. Two Trees is also looking to include 50,000 square feet of cultural space that would house three Brooklyn Academy of Music theaters and a rehearsal space. The developer is justifying the zoning change by saying it would lead to better use of the space…. [more]

Two Trees’ Jed Walentas and the Domino Sugar factory

Two Trees Management is soliciting proposals for an interim use of a 55,000-square-foot swath of the Domino Sugar site in Williamsburg, Curbed reported. The request for proposals for the site, dubbed Site E, will go live tomorrow. The parcel is a vacant lot located on Kent Avenue between South 3rd and South 4th streets. It will be available come this March for a year or more. [more]

20 Jay Street

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s incubator in Dumbo, which subleases discounted communal workspace to tech startups, has produced its first graduate, Crain’s reported. TENDIGI, an iPad and iPhone app developer for various industries that was one of the first starups selected for the program, has grown to six employees and left the 20 Jay Street incubator for its own space on Jay Street. [more]