Of the several “interpreters” who are on hand to answer visitor questions, his is the only intimate connection to the factory. Shelton is the only volunteer on the floor of the provocative installation who ever worked at Domino’s sugar refinery. "Why should someone who has a lot of money come from upstate or from Connecticut and benefit rather than people who have lived there all their life? It has been a long delay because the developers only want to give a small percentage…for regular people like me.” "We don’t want luxury apartments," Shelton says. The only other time Shelton has been back to the factory since 2004 was a couple of years ago to advocate for affordable housing in the development. Today, with its original brickwork, soaring ceilings, stunning sunlight, and East River views it's not surprising that the site will soon be a 35-story residential and commercial “megaproject” in the now very desirable Williamsburg neighborhood. Of ongoing labor conflict with Domino Sugar Corporation that resulted in the longest strike in the history of New York City. Of friendships made with the diverse group of Polish, Italian, Caribbean immigrants and other African Americans who also worked at the refinery. Of a hazardous but well-paid union job that enabled Shelton to stop working three jobs, buy his first car, and move his family out of the Roosevelt Housing Projects and into a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone. Memories of working the dangerous kiln on a shop floor that regularly reached 140 degrees. And when he returned to the refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for only the second time since the factory closed in 2004, this time as a volunteer for Creative Time’s installation of Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety, Or the Marvelous Sugar Baby,” “I had tears in my eyes because it brings back the memories.” That was the number Robert Shelton punched into a clock at the Domino Sugar factory for 20 years. Officials at JPMorgan did not immediately return a request for comment.Ĭorrection: The story has been updated to reflect an additional $60 million of project loans Two Trees received for the project.The authors with Robert Shelton at the exhibitĢ737-42. Two Trees has tapped CBRE to market the site’s 460,000 square feet of rentable office space. The overall development is expected to be completed in 2024. The developer later expanded its proposal in concert with SHoP Architects to spend roughly $250 million to add 600,000 square feet of commercial space and increase the square footage of the project by 10 percent. Two Trees acquired the 11-acre former sugar refinery factory at 292-314 Kent Avenue in 2012 from the Community Preservation Corporation for $185 million with early plans for 2,220 apartments. The buildings are slated for delivery in 2025. The two towers will rise 50 and 55 stories at the south end of the Domino site, next to Williamsburg Bridge. In addition, Two Trees received $60 million of project loans as part of the transaction, The Real Deal reported.ĭavid Lombino, Two Trees’ managing director for external affairs, said 346 Kent will encompass 600 total apartments with some units designated as affordable housing. SEE ALSO: 5 Questions With Mast Capital’s Camilo Miguel
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