As Saturday gets underway, check out a selection of some of the top stories on Curbed this week.
1) Four Different Places: Olafur Eliasson freakin' waterfalls were finally turned on. Some people loved them. Some disliked them. A bunch said, "meh." A lot of Curbed readers think they look like "glorified fountains."
2) Chelsea: Finally, a set of new High Line renderings, especially these really cool ones of Phase II of everybody's favorite elevated park.
3) Chelesa: Will the 18th Street Plaza on the High Line be built? Well, the money has to be found, but it sure looks cool.
4) Williamsburg: The architects made some tweaks here and there, shaved the glass box on the roof and got a thumbs up on the modifications to the landmarked Domino plant on Kent Avenue. What do you mean the 40 story towers around it aren't in the renderings? Really?
5) Prospect Heights: The Atlantic Yards development moved a step closer to reality when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the eminent domain issue.
6) Coney Island: When was the last time you saw a city Scoping Hearing that wouldn't put people into a deep coma? The one about the Coney plan this week was one for the record books.
This is rendering of the revised plan for the old Domino Sugar Plant in Williamsburg that was approved a little more than an hour ago by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. An earlier version was turned down. The design from Beyer Blinder Belle has some changes: the five-story glass addition to the 1884 building has been cut to four stories and been redesigned. The mechanical elements on top have been removed. The old Domino sign, which is currently on an adjacent building would be moved to the top of the landmarked structure. There are also balcony-type structures that have been added to the south side of the building. The other headline to come out of the meeting is that the developers expect to break ground in Fall 2009 on the massive project. The $1.3 billion project would ultimately have 2,200 units of housing. Brownstoner was on hand to live blog the LPC meeting and also has a set of photos and renderings from the session.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission wasn't just gently wagging its finger at Williamsburg's Domino Plant yesterday. The LPC also had to decide on the matter of the controversial 14-story condo building planned for 746 Madison Avenue, and as expected, the commission suggested that maybe this thing is a little too tall for this particular stretch of the Upper East Side Historic District. The Sun reports: "The commission told the developer that the scale of the building was not appropriate but said it would consider a shorter addition." Now it's up to developer Friedland Properties to either make revisions or abandon the thing altogether. There's plenty of money to be made here, so we'll assume they'll go with the former.
· Landmarks Commission Calls for Revisions [Sun]
· Mad on Madison: LPC Will Have its Say [Curbed]
· Mad on Madison: Opposition Mounts to Condo Plan [Curbed]
Looks like the plans for that big glass addition to the landmarked Domino Plant in Williamsburg have a way to go before they can ripen on the vine. The WPGA blog has a rundown on today's Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on the Beyer Blinder Belle proposal for altering the building. Rafael Viñoly who is the architect for the New Domino was even on hand. The Beyer architects compared their work to a variety of structures including the Tate Modern, but the LPC sent them back to the drawing board. Some felt the addition was "too tall" and "not the right design" and there was a consensus that the design is too "tame" and needs to be "more visionary" and emphasize the "industrial rigor" of the landmark. Translation: give us a call after you tweak it.
· LPC to Domino: Not Yet [WGPA]
· Domino's Glass Box Going Back to the Drawing Board? [Curbed]
· More New Domino: the Glass Box on Top [Curbed]
The plan for changes to the landmarked Domino Factory that would be at the center of Williamsburg's New Domino went in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, and it looks like the five-story glass box full of condos developers want to put on top of the 12-story, 1884 building might be getting some tweaks before all is said and done. The Commission didn't vote on the plan, but it scheduled more discussions and gave no indication it was any hurry to approve the change. The Williamsburg Greenpoint Preservation Alliance reported, in fact, that "none of the Commissioners are ready to stand up and support" the addition. Landmarks Chair Robert Tierney also told the developer to "look hard" to find a place to preserve the iconic Domino Sugar sign.
[Renderings courtesy of Rafael Viñoly Architects; click to expand]
Another day, another Domino story. After flying below the radar for months, the proposal for the massive New Domino development on the Williamsburg waterfront is definitely back. First up, there are new high-quality renderings of the Rafael Viñoly plan for the site. This, in turn, leads to a second point about what isn't there: the Domino Sugar sign that has been a Williamsburg icon for generations. Residents and preservationists aren't happy about the omission. A spokesperson for the developer told the Daily News that "there are engineering complexities involved," although they would like to save it. Meanwhile, the proposal to add that five-story glass box to the top of the landmarked factory buildings goes before the Landmarks Preservation Commission today. Again, there is less than universal praise. Lisa Kersavage of the Municipal Art Society tells the Sun: "This very large glass addition just plunked onto the top of it is just not appropriate." More to come.
Back in the fall, part of the old Domino Plant on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg was landmarked without a lot of controversy. In the end, even the developers of the New Domino project were behind it. So, the five-story glass box that architects Beyer Blinder Belle would add to the building will get aired out before the Landmarks Preservation Commission tomorrow. The Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint & Williamsburg has posted a more renderings of and plans for the the historic factory building. Glass box or not, it would be surrounded by a lot of Rafael Viñoly apartment towers, which aren't shown in images.
Yes, the old Domino Sugar plant in Williamsburg was landmarked last year, so now, the developers proposing the massive 'New Domino' project are going to the Landmarks Preservation Commission with changes to the Old Domino. The big main building would get a courtyard for "light and air" on the upper floors. (Retail and "community facilities" go on the lower three floors.) And the part of the building called the Filter House will get a five-story glass addition. The process will start with a presentation to the local community board at the end of the month and a Landmarks Commission hearing on February 5. The project, which would include more than 2,200 new apartments and towers up to 40 stories tall, still has to pass through many land use hoops. Some groups want to save the historic Adant House building, which would be demolished.
· CPC Files Plans for Refinery Expansion [WGPA]
· Domino Landmarked, but Project to Double Nabe Population [Curbed]
· Live from Domino Sugar: New Domino Detailed [Curbed]
Add about $600,000, give or take, of the cost of the $1.2 billion redo of the just-landmarked Domino plant on the Williamsburg waterfront. This morning's Post reports the developers have run up a tab of $577,000 lobbying city officials for the zoning changes they'll need to do the project, which will include up to 2,400 new apartments. The spending is for 2006. No estimate on the added cost of sugar this year. The report may leave a bitter taste with people in the neighborhood agitating for preservation of the iconic Domino sign. The developers have said they may not find a financially feasible way to save the sign.
· Domino Developers $weet on Lobbyists [NYP]
· Domino Landmarked, but Project to Double Nabe Population [Curbed]
Yesterday, parts of the old Domino Sugar factory on the Williamsburg waterfront were landmarked. Here's a quick look at some of the react:
1) "Well, there's still the problem of the vast majority of the site being un-protected and proposed for an ENORMOUS development (i.e. two 30-story towers and two 40-story towers) but this politely hands the mess over to City Planning to deal with."[Historic Districts Council Newsstand]
2) "Ironically, what is arguably the best-known feature of the plant, the large Domino Sugar sign facing the East River, is not a part of the landmark designation, nor the building from which it hangs." [CityRoom]
3) "The designation of the refinery is great news...We are excited that the Domino Sugar Refinery will actually be a part of the New Domino, and not just another branding opportunity." [WPA]
4) "The preservation of the Domino plant is a victory, but it could turn out to be a very bittersweet, if not hollow, one." [GL]
Just when you think it's safe to drift into the July 4th holiday, comes this: the first renderings of what the developers want to build on the site of the Domino Sugar Plant on the Williamsburg waterfront. In three letters, OMG. The images come our way via the draft scope document that's just been posted over at the Department of City Planning, and what it portends for this section of the East River waterfront—a site that developers The Refinery LLC are calling The New Domino—is, in essence, more of the same of what's happening up the coast from here: the construction of towering residential buildings, nine in total along the waterfront with two over 400 feet in height, and two over 300 feet in height. As a scope document, the renderings aren't anything more than placeholders for the (surely oh-so-glassy!) architecture to follow, but does give a view of how the developers would like to populate the site.
As for the Domino Refinery building itself, which is under consideration for Landmarks designation, it would undergo some sort of rehabilitation (assuming the landmarking is green-lighted) for some sort of as-yet uncertain residential/retail/community use, as it becomes enclosed by new residential towers. One crucial note: the developers hope to add floors to the main Refinery building, whether or not it gets landmarked. From what we can gather from the scope document, the iconic Domino Sugar sign—and its building that's always looked to us like a giant sugar box—would be demolished, as would all other structures on the site, several of which are also getting a Landmarks push from preservationists.
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The Landmarks Preservation Commission wasn't just gently wagging its finger at Williamsburg's 
Yes, the old Domino Sugar plant in Williamsburg was 
Add about $600,000, give or take, of the cost of the $1.2 billion redo of the just-landmarked Domino plant on the Williamsburg waterfront. This morning's Post reports the developers have run up a tab of $577,000 lobbying city officials for the zoning changes they'll need to do the project, which will include up to 2,400 new apartments. The spending is for 2006. No estimate on the added cost of sugar this year. The report may leave a bitter taste with people in the neighborhood agitating for preservation of the iconic Domino sign. The developers have said they may not find a financially feasible way to save the sign.
Yesterday, parts of the old Domino Sugar factory on the Williamsburg waterfront 
