NEW YORK CITY—About two-and-a-half years after acquiring the Domino Sugar site on the Williamsburg waterfront, Two Trees Management on Monday broke ground for the $1-billion redevelopment project's first building. A 16-story apartment tower, it will contain about 500 rental units, 105 of which will be affordable with rents as low as $575 per month.

SHoP Architects has designed the first tower at 329 Kent Ave., which Two Trees refers to as Site E. It's projected for a 2017 completion date at a cost of $200 million. Two Trees is also starting work on rebuilding the site's quarter-mile long waterfront pier, which will allow for the construction of a public park designed by landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations.

“The Domino site has been stalled for years, so we are very proud to break ground here and quickly bring on line 105 affordable homes for the community,” says Jed Walentas, principal at Two Trees. “As with all of our projects, Two Trees is committed to Williamsburg for the long haul, and we'd like to thank the many local residents and stakeholders for their input and ideas since we acquired the property” in the fall of 2012.

Totaling just under three million square feet of development, Two Trees' plan for the Domino site will reconnect South Williamsburg to its waterfront with a new esplanade and more than five acres of new parkland; reactivate the historic Refinery Building, tripling existing Williamsburg commercial space and supporting the growth of the neighborhood's tech and creative industries; and deliver up to 700 units of affordable housing. Full build-out at the site is expected to take six to eight years. 

Residents of Brooklyn Community Board 1 will be given preference for the affordable units at the complex, and Two Trees has committed to what it calls “an aggressive local hiring plan” for construction and building service jobs. Small-scale neighborhood retail will be located on the ground floors of the buildings, and the site plan does not include any big-box stores.

Two Trees' plan for the former Domino Sugar plant was approved by the City Planning Commission in March 2014 and the New York City Council two months later. The developer recently completed a demolition of many of the site's buildings, but preserved the landmarked Refinery Building, which will be restored and remade as an office building that will house about 2,700 permanent jobs.

Furthermore, historic artifacts found in the Domino factory, such as cranes and syrup tanks, will be preserved in an elevated “artifact walk” modeled after the High Line in Manhattan. Community residents got a preview of the open space when the temporary pop-up Havemeyer Park opened over the past two summers. It will be relocated elsewhere on the Domino site this summer.