Brooklynites weighed in Monday on the redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar factory. Residents want to make sure that the affordable housing being built there benefits people in the neighborhood. NY1′s Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report.
Every pew in Transfiguration Church was filled Monday night with Williamsburg residents trying to get information on affordable housing at the Domino Sugar site.
“I was born and raised in this neighborhood and as an adult now, I’m looking to stay in the neighborhood,” one attendee said.
The project will include 700 units of affordable housing. It was a deal struck earlier this year by the de Blasio Administration and the developer Two Trees to increase the affordable housing component to just over 30 percent. Two Trees was at the meeting to give an update on the construction and the affordable housing component.
“There’s a very scrupulous city process that they run and people have to be in a narrow income band and there’s a ton of paperwork that has to get filled out,” said Two Trees Management Principal Jed Walentas.
The project which was approved in June includes a total of 2,200 apartments, a public school, a public six-acre park, a community recreation center and at its hub—the historic sugar factory will become an office building for the technology and creative industries.
The community groups Los Sures and Churches United for Fair Housing organized this meeting to help residents be included in the new waterfront development.
“As the Domino site is constructed and we obviously have new people coming in, but we also want longstanding residents to be part of it to ensure that the flavor and the blend of south side Williamsburg is maintained,” said Ramon Peguero, Executive Director of Southside United.
Demolition is underway at the main site between Kent Ave and the East River. Groundbreaking on the first building will be across the street. It will have about 100 affordable units. Still, many residents remain skeptical.
“In this community, I’ve been living for 21 years. I feel frustrated. It’s only for the rich one or the poor one can live. But not the middle class,” said another attendee.
Two Trees says applications for its first building will be available in 2016. The building will be move-in ready in 2017.
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