ODA Architecture’s sugar crystal-inspired reboot of 10 Jay Street is taking form on the waterfront in Dumbo. On a clear day, its new facade of faceted glass reflects the sky, East River and Manhattan bridge it faces.

The faceted metal and glass curtain wall now covers about two-thirds of the exposed front of the building. Brick slab edges peek through, a reminder of the 19th century red brick factory building behind it.

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo

Designed by sugar refinery experts George M. Newhall Engineering Company as the Arbuckle Brothers Sugar Refinery, the original factory — a steel structure with brick curtain walls — was built in 1898 in the American Round Arch style.

Sometime in the postwar period the entire factory was coated in concrete stucco and the river-facing facade of the building removed.

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo
Old and new meet

In 2015, Landmarks approved the contrasting curtain wall design for the missing facade and the restoration of the rest of the exterior of the building, which is part of the Dumbo Historic District, designated in 2007.

Now its original red brick and arched windows have been exposed and will be united with the new glassy curtain wall.

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo

Developers Glacier Global Partners and Triangle Assets initially planned to convert the factory into 46 luxury condos, but later opted for office space.

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo

Glacier Global Partners is a commercial real estate firm whose services include debt financing and ground-up development. Most of its projects are in Manhattan.

Triangle Assets, owned by the Stavrach family for more than 30 years, redevelops and manages property, mostly in Manhattan.

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo
The restored Jay Street side of the building is covered in netting

Manhattan-based ODA, known for its variations on the theme of assemblages of boxes, is, of course, one of the most influential architecture firms in Brooklyn right now. Its dozens of high-profile projects include the Domino Sugar Factory and Eliot Spitzer’s Kedem Winery developments — both mega-projects in south Williamsburg.

Rendering by ODA
The building in 2015 before renovation. Photo by Barbara Eldredge
Rendering by ODA
Rendering by ODA

brooklyn development arbuckle sugar refinery 10 jay street dumbo

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

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