WGPA

Approved Domino Expansion
(Photo courtesy of Brownstoner)

Brownstoner has a blow-by-blow description of the Landmarks Commission's follow up hearing on the proposed Domino Refinery building redesign, and based on the images he has posted, the results are impressive. The glass addition has been scaled back some, but more importantly, it has been redesigned to have a less sleek, more integrated appearance. In other words, it no longer appears as an afterthought plopped down on the Refinery, but now reads as part of the rehabilitation of the refinery itself. It also helps that the ridiculous bulkheads on top of the addition are now gone.

Previous Scheme (Rejected by LPC in February, 2008)

Of course the other piece of big news is that the Domino sign is saved, and will be installed on top of the new addition (on the lower portion). This is good news for the sign, and an appropriate gesture given that historically, there was a large illuminated sign on top of the Refinery.

Some of the other details are less clear from the initial posts. The new storefronts at the base of the building were completely out of place in the old design, and have apparently been redesigned, but we haven't seen the details. The chutes on the south side of the building seem to have grown larger and crazier, but we'll withhold judgement until we see better images. And the new window openings and windows still seem rather trite and banal, but we'd like to see more information on this too.

We also note that CPC has finally put a price tag on the preservation of the refinery - an addition $40 million to the overall project cost. Its not clear if this means $40 million above and beyond what it would have cost to demolish the refinery and build something new on the site, but this number in and of itself certainly doesn't seem to justify the massive increase in density CPC is looking for on the overall project.