The park, which will host a farmers market and ice skating, is the penultimate piece in Two Trees’ Domino redevelopment project.
Domino Square, the penultimate piece of Two Trees’ major redevelopment of the Williamsburg waterfront on the site of the old Domino Sugar Refinery, has opened, providing an acre of open public space next to the landmarked Refinery building.
Designed for flexible public programming, the space at 320 Kent Avenue has a central egg-shaped plaza that in the winter will be used as an ice skating rink, and is framed to the east, along Kent Avenue, with stepped, amphitheater-like seating that offers a view of the plaza, the waterfront, and the East River as far as the Statue of Liberty.
The seating, topped by a green roof, is built into a striking concrete and glass retail arcade that fronts Kent Avenue and will soon house food vendors. Its zigzagging peaks and valleys frame an opening to the plaza from Kent Avenue.
Along the two side streets leading to the river, the built-up structure slopes down to street level. As well as the green roofs, the plaza is surrounded by green areas that are still being landscaped and include plantings of alvia, nepeta, and perovskia.
Benjamin Cadena of Studio Cadena, which, with Field Operations, designed the plaza, said the porous-looking arcade building is meant to bridge the gap between the two residential towers known as One Domino Square and the Refinery, and create a room-like effect for those entering into the public space. The entryway from Kent Avenue is like “a portal that compresses everything really tightly” and reveals the park, the water, and the view of the city as you enter, he said.
“When you’re on the other side, enjoying the space itself, the flip side of these kinds of very figural facades is that you get these peaks and valleys… it extends that idea of the bowl-like space, creating this kind of hill and berm-like elements behind you. It’s kind of a soft boundary between the building and the square,” he said.
Cadena added the porous concrete finish related back to the adaptive reuse of the refinery site and said the arcade isn’t supposed to be “precious or pristine.”
Lisa Tziona Switkin of Field Operations, which is behind the landscape design of the entire Domino redevelopment, said the choice of concrete, oxidized steel, and timber for the arcade adds an “eclecticness that feels very Williamsburg” to the streetscape.
She said when designing the new plaza, which she called “a sibling not a twin” of Domino Park, the team asked locals what they wanted to see in the new public space and what they thought was missing in terms of public amenities.
The main takeaways, she said, was the demand for space for large gatherings and some shade. Already, Domino Square, which opened to the public in mid-September, has had a salsa night that pulled in more than 800 people, she said. A canopy over the plaza provides sun protection and includes hanging lights to brighten things up in the evening. Conifers and other larger trees are being planted around the park’s borders.
Underneath the plaza, slated to host farmers markets, movie nights, and other activities, a more than $10 million wastewater treatment plant will soon treat the wastewater of the entire Domino development. Two Trees’ Managing Director of External Affairs Dave Lombino said the plant will be up and running by 2025. The vents from the treatment plant have been incorporated in the park’s design and add to its rustic, semi-industrial feel.
The site was at one time slated to hold a 45-story residential tower, but Two Trees made the decision to instead convert it to open space and use the development rights to increase the heights of the surrounding buildings.
“We decided that there were too many buildings for the site, that more open space was needed,” Lombino said at a site tour today. “We had a very honest communication with the community, where we said, what would you rather have another acre of public space or the buildings be lower…our argument was that the difference between 45 stories and 55 stories is not going to be as significant as another acre of public space that touches Kent Avenue, that draws people in, that could be a different use of public space than what we could do on the narrow strip in front.”
The plaza is one of the final parts of the entire Domino redevelopment, whose site Two Trees purchased for $180 million in 2012. The only other piece left is the residential building set to rise on Kent Avenue to the north of the Refinery building, Lombino said.
“Strong planning and design, when executed well, leads to a better final product and I think you know that those intentions, that philosophy that we brought to the site, in coordination with architects, is really visible today,” he said.
In a press release, Two Trees Principal Jed Walentas said the opening of the square means the developer will be able to provide more activities and attract a wider group of neighbors. “Domino Square will enhance everyone’s life in south Williamsburg. We are really proud of what we have built and excited to see its potential as it evolves,” he said.
The opening of the square follows the October 2023 reopening of the Domino Sugar Refinery, whose adaptive reuse took almost six years and was not without controversy. Also included in the large waterfront campus are the residential towers at One Domino Square, 325 Kent, One South First and 10 Grand Street, and the six-acre waterfront esplanade known as Domino Park.
Since opening in 2018, Domino Park has become a popular destination for locals and tourists, and has won awards for its design.
[Photos by Susan De Vries]
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