Contractor uses forklift to move car

From the NY Post:

Here’s the shocking moment a construction crew hoisted a Williamsburg family’s SUV off the street to make room for work on a luxury building site.

Contractors for Two Trees Management used a forklift to uproot the 2004 Infiniti while working on the $2 billion redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar Refinery.

The family, which has lived one block east of the historic Domino site for more than 30 years, found the SUV deposited on the curb Friday afternoon.

Henry’s father, Thomas Nahrwold, 61, had legally parked it in front of 27 South Third Street that morning.

A local auto repairman estimated it would cost at least $2,600 to fix the damages, which included a disfigured bumper, smashed undercarriage and impaired steering alignment.

The family learned who was responsible only because a neighbor recorded the act on a cellphone.

Did they use Common Core math?

From Crains:

In a contentious hearing, City Council members pressed the developers of the Domino Sugar factory project on the Williamsburg waterfront to explain how many market-rate and affordable-rental units it was planning to build.

Two Trees Management developer Jed Walentas acknowledged that the numbers were not yet final, but that the project is likely to include up to 2,300 market-rate apartments, with as many as 700 affordable units. He said that 537,000 square feet of the 2.2 million square feet of residential space would be devoted to below market-rate apartments.

But Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin said that based on an analysis the developer's other housing projects, the total number could be as high as 3,000 total units of housing, which he argued would bring added stress on the neighborhood's over-taxed infrastructure, as well as call into question whether a sufficient portion of the project was affordable.

During Tuesday's hearing of the Council's zoning subcommittee, Mr. Walentas was asked to justify his estimates of the total number of rental units that he plans to build. Mr. Levin argued that after examining similar projects built by Two Trees, and based on the total amount of space allotted for residential development, a larger number of apartments could ultimately be built.

"By my calculations, Two Trees could build in their market-rate component somewhere between 2,100 and 2,300 market rate units," he said. "You add to that the 660 or 700 affordable units, and it's closer to 3,000 units that could be developed in the project. And that's a major source of concern for me."

He continued, "Because you're unwilling to commit to a unit-size breakdown of your market rate, and you're unwilling to cap it at 2,300 units, I'm concerned that the opportunity is there, and the math bears it out, for a development that is much closer to 3,000 units than 2,000 units, and that's a major source of concern for me."

It's ok, Steve! Under DeBlasio, developers can build as big as they want if they even mention "affordable housing". Go with the "progressive" flow!

A pyrrhic victory?

From Crains:

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced late Monday a deal under which Two Trees Management Co. would add more affordable housing at its 2.9 million-square-foot Domino Sugar refinery project on the Williamsburg Waterfront. In exchange, the city will grant the necessary permits to allow the re-imagined development to move forward.

"We set out from day one to get the best possible value for the public. This partnership delivers on that commitment," said Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for Housing and Economic Development, in a statement. She added that the agreement is "a win for all sides, and it shows that we can ensure the public's needs are met, while also being responsive to the private sector's objectives."

The agreement sets in stone a requirement that 537,000 square feet of the project, which will translate to roughly 700 out of the total 2,300 units, be set aside for affordable housing for various income levels, according to the city.

Mr. de Blasio touted the agreement as adding 110,000 square feet of affordable housing beyond the developer's current application, under which just 427,000 square feet of such housing would have been built. And while that is true, Two Trees had already agreed throughout the project's public review process to build roughly 70,000 additional square feet if the city would chip in extra subsidy, though this agreement was non-binding.

Wow, so the developer agreed to 40 more units of affordable housing? That's not like putting a bandaid on a sucking chest wound or anything. Either stipulate that the majority of new units need to be affordable, or don't make any affordable. A little here and a little there, when most people living in the city need "affordable housing", is pretty lame, even though it will be trumpeted as a victory.

All this soul-selling to preserve the Domino building, which will be dwarfed by other buildings after this project is complete. If the City Council passes it, which is still a question mark.

Domino plan has affordable units off-site

From The Brooklyn Paper:

The developer of the Domino Sugar Factory plans to put nearly a third of the below-market-rate housing for a massive Williamsburg luxury complex on a site across the street and uphill from the rest of the waterfront development, which some neighbors say would be a good thing if it means the cheaper apartments are available faster.

“To have both market-rent tenants and low-income tenants living together is the way all housing should be built, but more importantly, to have 250 affordable housing units available in the immediate future for a population so desperately in need is a must,” said Debra Medina, a spokeswoman for the community group Los Sures, at a Department of Housing Preservation and Development hearing about the proposal on Friday.

The developer Two Trees Management Co. went before the agency to argue that all of the parcels that are part of the development should be seen as one big parcel in order to allow putting more than one fifth of the project’s so-called affordable housing in the first high-rise, which is planned for the Havermeyer Park plot on Kent Avenue between S. Third and S. Fourth streets, rather than spreading the budget units evenly throughout the towers, the remaining five of which sits along the East River and will be built later. The move would make 200 of the first skyscraper’s 400 units below-market-rate.

Not everyone is on board with the plan, though. Some say the Two Trees proposal could mean big money in the long-term for the developer while below-market-rate tenants end up cut off from amenities.

“It could allow the shifting of all the affordable housing to the inland site to maximize the profit for the developer and allow the sale of individual parcels, presumably on the waterfront, without requiring any affordable housing on these sites,” said neighbor and Domino opponent Stephanie Eisenberg.

Other nearby riverside developments, including Greenpoint Landing and the Edge, have come under fire for what critics describe as a separate-but-equal approach to so-called affordable housing for arrangements that place cheaper units on lower floors and make low-income tenants use separate entrances, but Two Trees wants to distance itself from all that.

Coming soon: skyscrapers with holes in them

From the NY Observer:

When Two Trees Management bought the old Domino Sugar site from CPC Resources and a reluctant Katan Group, a local developer told The Observer that Jed Walentas would be “crazy to go back to ULURP” for a rezoning of the site, which had already been approved for thousands of high-rise apartments.

But going back to to everyone’s favorite acronym (to pronounce, at least) is exactly what Mr. Walentas intends to do. He and SHoP, the New York-based architecture firm that Bruce Ratner tapped to design the Barclays Center and Atlantic Yards after Frank Gehry proved too expensive, called a group of reporters to SHoP’s offices near City Hall on Friday to show off their plans for the site.

The first thing Mr. Walentas spoke about was Two Trees’ desire to expand the amount of parkland included in the project—adding two new acres—and to make it more accessible to the public.

He criticized the open space in the old site plan as something that “felt very much like a privatized front lawn for people who lived there,” and spoke about his desire to pull the buildings back inland to make more space for the quarter-mile-long waterfront park, as well as add a new public street between his buildings and the waterfront.

But the extra park space comes at a price: the towers will have to rise higher to make up for the smaller footprints. The tallest tower on the site would rise to 598 feet, or about 60 stories—much taller than the 340-foot maximum height in the currently approved plan.

It's amazing what a little money can buy

From The Brooklyn Paper:

The developer behind a plan to build apartments at the former Domino Sugar factory spent at least $100,000 courting Williamsburg community groups that later supported controversial plans to allow residential construction at the industrial site, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

Community Preservation Corporation Resources — which is fighting to avoid foreclosing on the massive waterfront plot where it hopes to build 2,200 apartments and retail space — doled out donations of between $9,000 and $30,000 to organizations that subsequently backed the Domino project from February 2008 to December 2009, months before its campaign to rezone the site, court filings reveal.

The currently cash-strapped developer says the donations, which it calls “public reputation” money, simply prove that it is invested in the neighborhood. But attorney and civic watchdog Norman Siegel said the donations suggest an instance of quid pro quo.

“If the developer was giving community groups money five or 10 years before their mission, that would be one thing, but if the developer is giving money for the first and perhaps the last time, it raises the question whether the donor is buying recipients support and it raises questions about the community groups themselves,” said Siegel.

One project on the market, another gets a partner

From Brownstoner:

The Commercial Observer reports that developers Community Preservation Corporation and the Katan Group have been looking to sell all or parts of the Domino factory development to new buyers. The massive project, which was green-lighted in 2010, was supposed to involve the restoration of the factory in addition to the construction of several high rises. The development was supposed to result in 2,200 residential units, 660 of which would be affordable. The real estate folks the Observer quotes in the article point to several challenges the project faced, including the onus of constructing so much affordable housing and the high cost of renovating the factory itself.

From the Daily News:

The owner of a long vacant Queens movie house has found a financial backer to help overhaul the property, the Daily News has learned.

Rumors have been swirling in Flushing that the historic RKO Keith’s theater, which has sat vacant for more than 20 years, could change hands for the third time in a decade. There was also talk of a potential buyer already in contract to buy the theater less than two years after developer Patrick Thompson purchased the Northern Boulevard property.

But Mike Nussbaum, a representative for Thompson, said on Monday that the developer is not only sticking by the plan, but has found a partner to help get his $160 million vision off the ground.

“He is still involved, still bullish on doing this project,” Nussbaum said of Thompson, who snagged the foreclosed property for $20 million in 2010.

Nussbaum would not name the backer and only said the partner is based in the U.S.

Domino project faces court challenge

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Critics of the $1.5-billion redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar factory into 2,200 units housing sued last week to reverse the rezoning of the waterfront site.

The suit, filed in State Supreme Court by the Williamsburg Community Preservation Coalition, argues that the City Council, Department of City Planning, and the project’s developer, Community Preservation Resources Corporation, failed to conduct the required thorough environmental review of the project.

The 34-page lawsuit contends that the review “failed to take a hard look at the adverse environmental impacts of the project,” including its deliterious effect on traffic, nearby schools and subway lines, and publicly accessible open space.

Affordable housing promises were meant to be broken

From The Real Deal:

With the City Council set to vote Thursday on the Domino Sugar Factory condominium development's plans, insiders say that fewer than expected affordable housing units may make the cut, according to the New York Post. The vote, which would grant a zoning change to allow for the $1.5 billion Williamsburg development, is expected to be approved by the council. Still, the zoning change proposal includes no provisions guaranteeing that 30 percent of the 2,200 apartments will be affordable, as developer CPC Resources had previously promised. This constitutes a major risk, affordable housing advocates say, allowing CPC a loophole to back out of its affordable housing pledge. The project is expected to break ground next year, with various phases of construction set to extend over the next 10 years.

Domino deal done

From the Brooklyn Paper:

A key City Council committee is poised to pass the $1.2-billion Domino redevelopment project this morning — with the blessing of an anti-project Williamsburg lawmaker — thanks to a last-minute deal that would reduce the size of the project’s tallest towers yet not eliminate any affordable housing.

Sources close to the negotiations say that Community Preservation Corporation Resources has agreed to reduce cut its two 40-story towers down to 34 stories yet maintain the entire 660 units of below-market-rate housing from earlier versions of the plan.

The concession did not at first appease Councilman Steve Levin (D–Williamsburg), who initially wanted the project cut by 600 units. Domino initially resisted, saying that each floor of luxury housing that is cut from the project — already expensive because much of the former sugar is a city landmark — would cost the developer $5 million.

But a last-minute plea from Mayor Bloomberg, convinced Levin to soften his stance. And Domino caved after a late petition drive by industrial landowners near the project site triggered a requirement that the Council pass the project by a supermajority instead of a simple majority. A source said that Domino supporters were worried that they might not have enough votes under the new circumstances.

Glad to hear they're planning to increase electrical, subway and sewer capacity for this project. Oh, wait a minute...

Sugar coating the Domino upzoning

From Courier-Life:

Williamsburg’s rookie phenom councilman is swinging for the fences to get the developers of the Domino Sugar factory to scale back their project while maintaining the same number of affordable units — but the developers say he’s hit a foul ball.

At a City Planning hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, Councilman Steve Levin (D-Williamsburg) called for 40 percent of the units in the project to be set aside at below-market rents — as well as cutting the entire mixed-used complex from 2,200 units to 1,600.

That ain’t going to happen, said Susan Pollock of Community Preservation Corporation Resources, which argued that it needs at least 70 percent of the project at market rates to keep the project financially viable.

“If the market-rate units are reduced, it would not [allow us to build so many] affordable units,” said Pollock.

The City Planning Commission is the latest stop for the $1.2-billion Domino Sugar proposal, as developers attempt to round the bases in the city’s land-use review process.

The project, which has earned praise from Mayor Bloomberg, has reached second base for the moment, after receiving an enthusiastic approval from first base umpire Borough President Markowitz earlier this month.

In March, the community board voted overwhelmingly against the proposal, as its leaders cited concerns against the project’s size and effect to local infrastructure — concerns that Levin echoed in his testimony to the City Planning Commission.

Levin compared Domino to another waterfront development, Schaefer Landing, which has 40 percent below-market rate — but was admonished by City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden for making a comparison that was “apples and oranges” since Schaefer was developed on city-owned property and received public subsidies to achieve those levels.

“You’re a smart guy,” Burden, a strong supporter of the mayor, told Levin, “but you should know better.”

Levin and the project’s opponents hope to influence the agency to adjust Domino’s dimensions before it makes its recommendation to the City Council early next month.

Domino transit dilemma

From the Huffington Post:

It's frustrating to hear elected officials suggest that New York City should put transit expansion projects, like the Second Avenue Subway, on hold because of MTA budget shortfalls. Our trains and buses are already at capacity. Overcrowding during rush hour actually results in fewer trains per hour because of the amount of time it takes for passengers to get on and off the trains.

This overcrowding doesn't just result in slower commutes; it also slows the city's growth.

For example, the proposed New Domino development on the Williamsburg waterfront is facing stiff neighborhood opposition. This is a shame because the project would be 30 percent affordable, would likely bring a new supermarket to the area, would have 150,000 square feet of community space, and four acres of new open space along the waterfront.

The project does have its problems, though. With 1,700 new off-street parking spaces, the New Domino development would increase the rate of car ownership in the city when the city should be actively trying to reduce the rate of car ownership. And with only 450 bicycle parking spaces, the development falls 1,200 spaces short of achieving the city's new minimum bicycle parking requirements.

Another concern is the impact the development would have on the area's transit infrastructure. The 6,700 new residents that the development would be expected to bring to the area by 2020 would likely overwhelm the area's buses and trains. Some buses would see twice as many passengers during the morning and evening rush. The city estimates that the L and J/M/Z trains would get 1,120 new riders in the morning and 1,350 new riders in the evening.

These numbers are just estimates. But as anyone who rides the L train in the morning can attest, it is difficult to see how these new riders can be absorbed at the current levels of service. And when you consider the other 4,000 new residential units planned for the neighborhood, the prospects for an even remotely comfortable transit commute are not good.

Hmmm. So subway overcrowding happens in Williamsburg but, as out realtor trolls vehemently attest, not in Long Island City. Glad this article came out to set the record straight. Also, I doubt that putting in 1200 additional bike parking spaces is going to make 1200 people who bike buy condos or rent there or make 1200 people give up their cars and bike to and from work. It doesn't work that way. We won't even touch the "affordable housing" or "supermarket" promises...

Domino building open to the elements

From Curbed:

An alarmed neighbor with an itchy Photoshop trigger finger sent along evidence that the refinery building, the lone landmarked structure on the site, and set to get a glassy rooftop addition has been increasingly left open to the elements, which is a Domino complaint that dates back a long while. Our tipster smells conspiracy: "CPC wants the Domino site to fall apart as revenge or a 'vendetta' (more appropriate) for the landmarking of the building." Yep, emotions are running high on both sides, but according to the experts the window thing might not really matter.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission tells us they're "working with the developer to ensure the building is properly sealed." And by sealed the LPC doesn't necessarily mean shutting all the windows (let the future squatters handle it). What's important to keeping the building structurally sound is water-tight brick and mortar joints.

Brooklyn's CB1 opposed to Domino project

From the Brooklyn Paper:

The Community Board 1 Land Use Committee voted against the $1.2-billion redevelopment of the old Domino Sugar factory on Tuesday night, the first public rejection of the project as it enters the eight-month review process for a rezoning along the Williamsburg waterfront that would allow a multiple-skyscraper project that is larger than the law currently allows.

The 5-3 vote is merely a suggestion to the full community board, whose vote on March 9 is itself merely advisory to Borough President Markowitz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council, all of which have a say on the proposal.

(Actually, Markowitz' vote is also merely advisory, but don't tell him that...)

In the end, the members of the land-use committee who voted against the Domino project expressed frustration at the hearing, which took place at the Capital One Bank building in Greenpoint.

“We should just shoot ourselves right now,” said board member Heather Roslund, an opponent. “If this is the future of New York City, it’s just sad.”

You'd think the landmark would be the showpiece, instead it's dwarfed by gargantuan glass-topped buildings.