Two Trees Management’s Jed Walentas is temporarily turning over the Domino Sugar development site in Williamsburg for use as an urban farm, yoga studio, reading room and bicycle course, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
The developer will not charge rent for the football field-sized plot, but the operators will need to pay utilities.
On the western side of the parcel, North Brooklyn Farms will operate a farm, and there will be a green space for public events and fitness classes. On the other side, a practice cycling course will cater to beginner and intermediate riders.
The initial agreement for these operators is a one-year deal. But that can change based on the design and approval processes for the mixed-use project. It was not clear when the new facilities will be ready.
“For us, it’s silly to have this site fenced off from the community,” Dave Lombino, Two Trees’ director of special projects, told the paper. “We want to signal to the community that we are creative and ambitious.”
The features came from two separate proposals for use of the site that Two Trees merged together.
The area in question is the Kent Avenue lot located between South 3rd and South 4th streets.
Two Trees solicited proposals for use of this 55,000-square-foot swath in early January, as previously reported.
Walentas has indicated that he wants to break ground on this Kent Street lot first. Lombino told the paper that ground will not break until at least late 2014.