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Landmarks Approves 10 Jay St. Design that Honors Building's Sugar History

By Janet Upadhye | March 25, 2015 2:31pm
 Developers are using  glass pieces in the facade design to represent sugar.
Developers are using glass pieces in the facade design to represent sugar.
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ODA

DUMBO — This is one sweet design.

Members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the design for 10 Jay Street — which is currently commercial space but will soon be converted to condos — because it honors the building's history as a sugar refinery, developers for the site said.

The design, that went before Landmarks on Tuesday, uses oddly shaped glass pieces in the facade to represent the crystal-like shine of sugar.

It also incorporates brick and steel as a nod to the manufacturing past of the building.

"We wanted to tie the facade of the building to its history and tell the story of what the building once was,"  Joseph Stavrach, President and CEO of Triangle Assets that owns the building, said. "The commission loved it — they went crazy over the design."

Landmarks could not be immediately reached for comment.

The property was built in 1898 and served as the headquarters for Arbuckle Coffee but was later converted into a sugar refinery "when the Arbuckle Brothers refused to pay full price for sugar from their main distributor, Havemeyer Sugar," according to Triangle Assets.

In 1974 the Arbuckles left the warehouse and it was vacant for 20 years before Triangle Assets bought it in 1994. At that time rents were $3 per square foot — they are now more than $50 per square foot, a spokeswoman for Triangle Assets said.

There is currently one commercial tenant left in the building and they plan to relocate by the end of March.

Inside demolition and renovation will begin in May and the condos will be complete by mid-2016.