One South First, 260 Kent Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 260 Kent Avenue by Carter Horsley

This dramatic and handsome, 45-story, mixed-use tower,  riverfront tower at 1 South 1st Street in Williamsburg is part of the very large Domino Park development by Two Trees Management Co., L.L.C., which is headed by David Walentas. 

COOKFOX Architects designed the building, which is also known as 260 Kent Avenue. 

This building was completed in 2019 with 332 rental apartments, 66 of which will be affordable.  Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture did the interiors. 

It is a smoke-free building. 

It is 435 feet tall, the tallest in Williamsburg. 

It will have 150,000 square feet of office space that are contained in a 24-story section of the tower that is perpendicular to and separate from, the residential portion that cantilevers over it. The office section is known as Ten Grand Street and has larger windows than the residential section.  

A November 8, 2019 article by Devin Gannon at 6sqft.com noted that "The façade of both properties includes white precast concrete window panels made to resemble the molecular of sugar crystals, a nod to the former sugar manufacturing site where the buildings now sit." 

The article said that the office and residential sections "interlock" and that "a sustainable component...allows extra heat from the office building to be preserved and reused at the residential property." 

"Offering tenants between 5,000 and 6,000-square-foot floor plates and floor-to-ceiling windows, Ten Grand boasts sweeping views of Manhattan, faces the six-acre Domino Park, and will be home to several Brooklyn-based retailers, including Roberta’s and Other Half Brewing," the article continued. 

Rick Cook, the founding partner of COOKFOX, told 6sqft.com that his firm was interested in the idea of designing a true mixed-use building. “Sometimes there will be an office building at the base and apartments at the top, and there’s no interaction, they just happen to be in the same building,” Cook said during a tour of the building. “Here, the two buildings are actually looking at each other.” 

Amenities at Ten Grand include private conference rooms, a 48-seat auditorium, a bike lobby with a separate entrance and ramp, lounge with library-style tables, outdoor terraces, and the option to rent private rooftop cabanas. 

The residential and office properties are linked through a common, light- and plant-filled lobby with lots of seating. 

One South First is rising on the northern end of the Domino Sugar Factory site. Its site on the corner of Kent Avenue and Grand Street and the building will also contain 15,000 square feet of retail. 

Development began in 2017 at the Domino Sugar Factory site, which was in operation along the waterfront until 2004. 

Down the street to the south and on the other site of the original sugar factory structure, the 16-story rental building at 325 Kent Avenue, which was designed by SHOP Architects, was the first new structure to open in 2017 at the development's 11-acre site with more than 500 rentals.  It was followed by the opening of Domino Park in the summer of 2018. 

325 Kent is fully leased and has attracted such retailers Mekelburg’s food shop, Sky Ting Yoga, Modern Chemist, Dandy Wine & Spirits, and Michelin-starred chef Missy Robbins’ restaurant Misi. 

The landmarked, brown brick-clad Domino Sugar Factory Building will be transformed into a modern office building, which will retain its 19th-century brick exterior but gain a new glass and steel structure inside of it. 

Overall, the project will ultimately bring 2,800 rental apartments across four residential buildings, with 700 of them affordable, 600,000 square feet of office space, and 200,000 square feet of retail. 

Built in 1856 by the Havemeyer family, the Domino Sugar Factory was the first of dozens of sugar refineries that contributed to the area’s emergence in the nineteenth century as the industrial center of the Port of New York. 

By the end of the Civil War, the factory had become the largest sugar refinery in the world, employing over 4,000 workers and processing 3 million pounds of sugar a day–more than half of the sugar consumed in the entire country. After a fire in 1882, it was completely rebuilt to include the two grand brick buildings and distinctive smokestack that still stand today. The highly recognizable “Domino Sugar” sign was added the 1950s, transforming the 90,000-square-foot complex into a true New York City landmark. 

The closest subways are the L at Bedford Avenue, the G at Metropolitan and the JMZ trains at Marcy Avenue. The Domino Sugar Factory is approximately a 15-20 minute walk from each stop heading west toward the East River. 

Bottom Line

A bold tower with a "twist" on a low-rise podium just to the north of the landmark Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg on the East River: a 24-story "leg" perpendicular to, and separate from, to the main 45-story building.

Description

The 24-story "office" section has larger windows than the taller residential section that cantilevers over it.  Both sections have some corner windows. 

The project's white precast concrete façades inspired by the molecular pattern and forms of sugar crystals in reference to the former factory site. 

The building has an entrance marquee. 

A September 12, 2019 article by Kaya Laterman in The New York Times reported that "To make the [façade's] curves and angles, the precast concrete was set in carbon-fiber reinforced plastic frames — instead of using traditional wood — that were created by large-scale 3-D printers at Ohio-based Additive Engineering Solutions and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, a U.S. Department of Energy science and technology research facility." 

Jed Walentas, a principal at Two Trees, said the building includes details that were added after lessons were learned at 325 Kent, which opened in 2017, the first building erected on the Domino site. After discovering that a majority of the residents in 325 Kent did not commute into Manhattan, Two Trees decided to increase communal work spaces by about 30 percent at One South First. Two bike storage areas will hold 300 bikes for both residential and commercial tenants, and the stairs leading to the basement will also have a bike access ramp, he said.

Amenities

The building has spectacular vistas of the East River and Manhattan, a fitness center, an outdoor pool, a sundeck and grilling area, rooftop cabanas, communal works spaces, a residential lounge, a concierge, a live-in superintendent, cold storage, a children's playroom, a valet, a package room, a media room and a bicycle room. 

The park has been designed by James Corner Field Operations and provides an extension of River Street with a 1,200-foot-long esplanade along the river. 

According to an June 8, 2018 article by Eleanor Gibson at dezeen.com "over 30 pieces of salvaged factory machinery are integrated into a five-block-long section at the northern end of the site, called Artificial Walk." 

"These preserved elements include four of the 36-foot-tall...cylindrical tanks that once collected syrup during the refining process, 21 columns from the Raw Sugar Warehouse, and approximately 585 feet...of crane tracks," the article continued." 

"Artist Mark Reigelman also designed a play area for this stretch, spanning from South 2nd Street to Grand Street. Slides and tunnels connect the three elements of the play area: an elevated cabin clad in wood sourced from the factory floor, and two silo-like covered with a perforated metal panels," according to the article. 

"A tall metal frame matches the teal hues in the playground and outlines the neighboring Mexican restaurant called Tacocina....Activities like a 1,750-square-foot (163-square-metre) dog run, two bocce ball courts, a sports field and a full-sized beach volleyball court are placed on the southern side near the Williamsburg Bridge. Due to the park's close proximity to the waterfront, Field Operations has designed it to be resilient to flooding by raising the platform and planting nearly 175 trees," the article added.

Apartments

Residences include alcove studios and one- and two-bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, central air conditioning, solar and blackout shades, Bosch washer/dryers and keyless electronic apartment access. 

Kitchens offer stainless steel appliances, in-sink garbage disposals, and custom Italian cabinetry. 

In the residential lobby, white terrazzo floors and exposed, poured concrete columns create a gallery-like space.