Final Tower Rising in Two Trees’ Domino Sugar Refinery Complex

The final building in Two Trees’ giant Domino Sugar Refinery complex is rising on Williamsburg’s waterfront, shepherding the end of a more than two decades-long project that drastically changed the skyline of the East River in Brooklyn.

The planned 52-story development at 280 Kent Avenue will have two towers rising from a three-story podium, according to zoning documents. When Brownstoner stopped by recently, the podium structure was in place, and was ringed by a construction fence with cranes, other building equipment, and a number of workers onsite. The concrete structure has reached the seventh floor, according to Two Trees rep David Lombino.

Permits show the structure, rising between 1 South First and the Domino Sugar Refinery on the waterfront, will reach 591 feet and include 1,350 apartments. A land use application approved by the council in 2025 to tweak design details said there would be 1,262 apartments in the building.

The approved plan said 315 units (20 percent) would be set aside as affordable housing for households earning an average of 60 percent of Area Median Income, currently $87,480 for a household of three people. The plan also said there will be 105 affordable units built offsite for households earning between 40 and 80 percent AMI.

Most recently, Lombino said there would be 320 affordable units, and more information on the development, including its name, would come this fall.

Permits for the new building say 599,435 square feet is set aside for residential use and 11,870 will be used as commercial space.

The building at 280 Kent Avenue, currently dubbed Domino Site B, is the final piece of Two Trees’ redevelopment of the formerly industrial 11-acre sugar refinery site, which it purchased in 2012 for $185 million and rezoned in 2014. The $2.5 billion redevelopment included building four mixed-use residential and commercial buildings: 1 South 1st Street, 8 South 4th Street, and 325 and 280 Kent Avenue, as well as the adaptive reuse of the Refinery Building as a fully commercial building, and the development of public park and plaza space.

While the other residential addresses in the project were designed by COOKFOX, Selldorf Architects, and SHoP Architects, 280 Kent Avenue is the work of REX. dencityworks is listed as the architect of record for 280, 346, and 266 Kent Avenue, and for the Refinery building.

Renderings show the towers will be uniform in height and design, and will feature glass curtain walls and wavy, wrap-around balconies, in keeping with the other towers’ white, glassy facades.

The new building will be taller than its counterparts at 1 South 1st Street (dubbed One South First) and 8 South 4th Street (dubbed One Domino Square), which reach 435 feet and 535 feet respectively. One South First is 42 stories with 332 units, and One Domino Square, which sits just above the Williamsburg Bridge, is 52 stories with 559 apartments. 325 Kent Avenue, which was the first in the complex to rise, reaches 16 stories and has 522 units.

The original design for 280 Kent Avenue included a skybridge between the two slightly shorter towers with a 70-foot-tall podium connecting them at the base, as well as a slightly smaller footprint and a smooth glass facade. But after constructing other buildings and renovating the 19th century factory, Two Trees learned lessons and made some tweaks.

The new plan removes the skybridge, and makes the podium slightly shorter — in part because the School Construction Authority nixed its original plan to build a new elementary school in the building. Every unit will have a balcony. The building will feature a wavy, more modern facade.

Due to the City of Yes, there is an increase in the number of units allowed and affordability deepened with that. Affordability at other residential buildings onsite has varied.

At One South First, affordable units were available for 80 percent to 130 percent of AMI, with rents starting at $1,550 for a studio apartment and topping out at $3,169 for a two-bedroom, when the lottery opened in 2022. Prices at One Domino Square were higher, with apartments available at 125 percent to 130 percent of AMI, or $2,832 to $4,415, depending on unit size.

As part of the project, Two Trees will extend the protected bike lane on Kent Avenue along the full length of the Domino site, to about South 5th Street — it currently ends at South 1st Street. They will also add new tree beds and street trees to the soon-to-be-widened sidewalks, and pay to renovate the schoolyard at nearby J.H.S. 126.

Green and open space plays a large role in the Domino master plan. Domino Park, which opened in 2018, has proved a popular local hangout as well as destination for out of towners, and was a valuable public gathering space during the pandemic.

In 2024, the developers opened Domino Square, a major piece of the redevelopment plan, providing an acre of open public space next to the landmarked Refinery building. Since its opening, the plaza at 320 Kent Avenue has been used for flexible public programming, with its central egg-shaped plaza used as an ice skating rink in winter and for a range of activities in warmer months.

Once Two Trees wraps up the Domino project, it will start work on River Ring, a massive pair of waterfront towers planned to hold more than 1,000 apartments, commercial space, and a waterfront park with recreational space extending into the East River. The project, which sits just up Kent Avenue from the Domino site, was approved by the City Council in 2021 after a long ULURP review.

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

Related Stories

• Construction Begins on Final Mixed-Use Tower at Williamsburg’s Domino Site
• Domino Square Public Plaza Opens on Williamsburg Waterfront
• Selldorf’s Double Domino Towers Rising on ‘Burg Waterfront Will Mix Condos, Rentals

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