00:00Jed, why didn't you tear this building down?
00:02Haha, they wouldn't let us.
00:03We're here today in Willemesburg at the refinery at Domino,
00:06which was once one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, but closed in 2004.
00:10In 2012, Two Trees Management acquired it, redeveloping it into a modern office building inside a landmark brick shell.
00:15That's a landmark building, and thank God.
00:18I think this is one of the great examples in the city of how a landmark can really be the centerpiece of a neighborhood.
00:23Even with these huge, tall buildings, this building will always be the heartbeat of the neighborhood.
00:27What was the hardest part of rebuilding this?
00:29From a technical and financial standpoint, the building we're in was definitely the hardest.
00:33You know, taking the old sugar refinery out of the shell, leaving the shell up,
00:37built a new steel office building inside it.
00:39And then obviously, you know, leasing commercial office space in this market was a daunting task,
00:44but it's going incredibly well.
00:46Can you tell me more about the atrium we're in right now?
00:48Yeah, so this is the very top.
00:49We have this amazing 30-foot vaulted ceiling.
00:51The space we're in right now is run by a group called Skylight.
00:54They're our events partner.
00:55The calendar's booked all through next year already.
00:58So they're great partners, and the space is amazing.
01:00And it's really cool to see what different companies transform this into.
01:03What was your first thought when you walked into the refinery at Domino?
01:05Yeah, it was just like a bit of a jaw-dropping scenery once you walk into one of these offices.
01:10Pretty sick.
01:10I broke and kind of found this place, and when we stepped inside, we were like,
01:13yeah, this is probably the place that we should go.
01:15Tell me about the office spaces in this building.
01:17So two different typologies.
01:18So here we have a full 30,000-foot floor, pre-built, probably for a company that would come over from Manhattan.
01:24And then a lot of smaller spaces.
01:25We've pre-built the lower floors into 3,000 to 7,000-foot spaces,
01:29and we probably have about 40 of those companies that have come here.
01:31A lot of AI and fintech companies here.
01:33What do you think draws them to this space?
01:34Companies want to be where they can attract the best people, human capital to work for them,
01:39on the right energy, in the right setting.
01:41Obviously, Williamsburg and this part of Brooklyn is rich in that kind of talent,
01:45and the work environment here, I think, is second to none for those kinds of folks.
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