NYC Real Estate For Sale

Domino Development May be Approved Without Guarantees

We’ve mentioned the luxury condo project at the former Domino Sugar factory site many times in our bubble wrap, and it seems to be under fire again. The NY Post reports on the issues that may arrise when the City Council votes on Thursday to approve the project’s zoning change. The zoning amendment may only guarantee 20% of the units to be set aside for affordable housing, though the development team has promised 30%, which could lead to a total of 220 lost affordable units.

The Domino project is only set to go before the full council because Mayor Bloomberg helped broker a deal last month to get the council’s support The agreement was reached after Bloomberg convinced Councilman Steve Levin, who represents the neighborhood and has been a project opponent, to back the plan with modifications that include the developer reducing the size of the two tallest towers from 40 stories to 34 stories while still delivering the affordable apartments proposed.

The mixed-use Domino project also includes four acres of public recreation space, 274,000 square feet of retail space, and an esplanade overlooking Manhattan. It needs city approval for a zoning change to allow for residential use because the 11.2-acre footprint was not part of the 2005 neighborhood rezoning.