Who We Are

Who is CPC

Working in Williamsburg

Company Profile

Members of the Domino Team

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

Welcome to the New Domino!

CPC Resources, Inc. (CPCR), the managing partner of The Refinery LLC, has created this web site to keep you informed about progress on The New Domino, an extraordinary 11.2-acre residential development planned for the Brooklyn waterfront in Williamsburg. Our goal is to create an economically and culturally diverse residential community that will include a mix of affordable and market-rate housing, office space, retail, community facility space and four acres of public open space with a magnificent waterfront esplanade accessible to the entire community. It also will preserve as its centerpiece the historic sugar Refinery complex with the iconic Domino Sugar sign at its apex.

This web site presents our vision for what the Domino development will bring to the Williamsburg/Greenpoint community and also will include the latest news regarding our plans.

The Community Preservation Corporation, CPCR's parent, is a leader in the financing and creation of affordable housing, and has played a pivotal role in Williamsburg for more than three decades. We have been involved in the construction of over 1,600 low-, moderate- and middle-income apartments, reflecting a total investment of over $200 million in Williamsburg.

We encourage you to support this vital project that will reclaim the waterfront for public use and bring urgently-needed affordable housing to the neighborhood. Please sign up as a supporter so we can keep you updated about important news, milestones and events.

We look forward to working with the residents and civic leadership of Williamsburg and Greenpoint to make these neighborhoods even better places to live, work and raise families.

Sincerely,

Michael Lappin
President & CEO
Community Preservation Corporation and CPC Resources, Inc.

Who is CPC

The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a not-for-profit mortgage lender, and its for-profit development arm, CPC Resources, Inc. (CPCR), have helped to finance and build quality affordable housing for hundreds of thousands of people. CPC has been serving our communities since 1974; CPCR was founded in 1992. Assisting a first-time developer with a construction loan in a financially underserved neighborhood, financing units for seniors, preserving irreplaceable low, moderate- and middle-income housing through renovation and modernization, developing programs to preserve moderate income co-ops, financing and developing new affordable housing in partnership with local not-for-profit organizations – these are all part of what we do and are integral to our mission. Please visit our website at www.communityp.com.

Working in Williamsburg

CPC’s founding principle is to serve neighborhoods. We have spent more than three decades working in partnership with community residents and advocates, government, and private and not-for-profit developers to help meet the urgent need for quality affordable housing.

In Williamsburg, CPC has played a critically important role over the last 30 years, having been involved in the creation of over 1,600 low-, moderate- and middle-income apartments, reflecting a total investment of over $200 million.

To mention just two examples, CPC partnered with a community development organization in Williamsburg that has developed hundreds of affordable housing units and manages over 1,000 units in the Williamsburg area. CPC assisted in providing the financing for 25 low-income rental apartments. The site on South 2nd Street, formerly owned by New York State, underwent a gut rehabilitation and now provides one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, plus community space for tenant programs. Apartments have been rented to households earning less than $40,000 per year.

CPC also provided financial support to create an affordable residence for out-of-town visitors coming to New York for medical treatment. This project originated with Detective Nelson Dones of the New York City Police Department, who himself received life-saving cancer treatment at a Texas hospital. He learned first-hand how important it is for patients and their families to find a welcome and affordable place to live in a city far from home, and he was determined to develop an affordable apartment for patients who come to New York City battling to save their lives. When Detective Dones asked CPC for help, CPC responded by lending him $1 million and providing technical assistance for the construction of a new 7-unit building in Williamsburg — with one large, affordable apartment reserved for visiting cancer patients. CPC provided additional support by donating furnishings for the apartment and subsidizing the first year’s rent. View CPC Williamsburg Investment Map

Company Profile

The Domino site was purchased in 2004 by The Refinery LLC, a group consisting of the managing partner, CPCR, and its partner the Katan Group. CPCR is the wholly-owned for-profit development arm of the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a nationally-recognized not-for-profit mortgage lender that helps finance and support the development of affordable multi-family housing. The mission of CPCR is to undertake development opportunities that support CPC’s affordable housing agenda. Since CPCR is the controlling partner of The Refinery LLC, it has sole decision-making responsibility for the development of The New Domino.

CPC was founded in 1974 by a group of business leaders and financial institutions to stem the tide of deterioration and abandonment threatening at-risk communities in New York City, such as Washington Heights in Manhattan and Crown Heights in Brooklyn. These leaders recognized that adequate, affordable housing is a crucial component in sustaining viable neighborhoods.

Today, CPC is sponsored by more than 70 commercial banks, savings institutions and insurance companies. CPC is New York State’s leading financer of affordable housing units, representing public and private investments of more than $7.2 billion toward the building and redevelopment of over 136,000 homes. The large-scale housing renewal undertaken by CPC over the past thirty-five years has resulted not only in the restoration of deteriorating housing stock, but also in the revival and stabilization of entire neighborhoods and has allowed affordable rents to be maintained for the residents of thousands of apartments.

Following CPC’s lead, CPCR develops affordable and middle-income housing, primarily in emerging and underserved communities throughout New York State. The range of our projects demonstrates that no project is too small or too large. CPCR's largest undertaking was the rescue of Parkchester, the troubled 12,271-unit Bronx residential complex that CPCR acquired in partnership with two experienced developers in 1995. CPCR and its partners carried out a comprehensive $200 million renovation and stabilized Parkchester's finances after nearly two decades of neglect. To date, in addition to the renovation of Parkchester, CPCR has invested in approximately 1,500 housing units in 42 separate projects. These include a senior housing development in the Hudson Valley, a newly-constructed low-income rental property in the South Bronx, and the rejuvenation of an occupied deteriorating building in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Members of the Domino Team

Developing eleven-plus acres in one of New York City’s greatest neighborhoods requires careful thought and far-ranging expertise in planning, design and construction. With that in mind, we have assembled a top-notch team with an outstanding track record.

We have engaged the world renowned architect Rafael Viñoly to design an exciting and accessible new residential community. Quennell Rothschild & Partners will design the open space, including the waterfront esplanade and the central gathering area behind the Refinery. And for the design of an adaptive reuse of the historic Refinery building, we have engaged a leader in the field of preservation, Beyer Blinder Belle, LLP.

Rafael Viñoly Architect, PC

Quennell Rothschild & Partners Landscape Architects

Beyer Blinder Belle, LLP Historic Preservation Architect