NEW YORK (AP) -- The Domino sugar factory, a towering brick presence along the Brooklyn waterfront since the mid-19th century and a reminder of the city's great manufacturing past, has been granted landmark status.
The 13-story refinery, shuttered in January 2004 after 148 years of operation on the East River, was unanimously approved Tuesday for the designation by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.
``The refinery is the oldest intact structure on the site and the most iconic symbol of Brooklyn's industrial heritage on the waterfront,'' Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney said after the vote.
The new status won't affect the planned development by the site's owner, CPC Resources, which hopes to put in 2,200 residential units with a breathtaking view of Manhattan. Thirty percent of the units would be categorized as affordable housing, CPC spokesman Richard Edmonds said.
But the landmark status ensures that CPC can't alter the existing exterior of the architecturally important factory. The project, dubbed The New Domino, will feature two 30-story towers and two 40-story towers flanking the landmarked property.
The approval covers three buildings that share common walls at the Williamsburg site, where Domino began its operations in 1856. The factory predated the Brooklyn Bridge and outlasted the Brooklyn Dodgers, but it closed down for good as the sugar industry fell on hard times in recent years.
New York was once the nation's No. 1 sugar producer, with five refineries operating along the Brooklyn waterfront at its peak.
The landmarking did not include the factory's signature neon sign, although the developers were hoping to incorporate the familiar illuminated ``Domino Sugar'' logo into their final project.
"We are looking into ways of saving it,'' said Richard Edmonds, spokesman for the owner.
The site's distinctive smokestack was included in the landmarking of the buildings, which reflect an American interpretation of the Romanesque Revival style.
The plant was closed by the American Sugar Refining Co. just three years after its purchase in 2001. The company said the aging plant, operating at less than half its annual capacity, couldn't compete with its facilities elsewhere in the country.
The city planning commission must sign off on the preservation committee's approval.
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