The Sugar House Is Closing. Now What?

For more than 130 years, the Domino Sugar refinery at 1 Federal Street has been part of the Yonkers waterfront. Built in 1893, it has operated along the Hudson River long enough that most Yonkersites simply call it the Sugar House. In June 2025, American Sugar Refining (ASR), the plant’s parent company, announced it would close the facility by December 31, 2025, as part of a nationwide restructuring.

The refinery had been a major operation, receiving roughly 515,000 tons of raw sugar annually and processing it at a rate of over 4.3 million pounds per day. When the doors closed, approximately 300 to 350 workers were affected. ASR said it would offer job placement assistance and relocation options to other facilities, and the city committed to working with the New York State Department of Labor and the Yonkers Workforce Development Board to support those impacted.

For workers who spent years inside the plant, the news landed hard. Many had heard closure rumors for years and never believed it would actually happen. Community organizations that relied on the refinery’s support described the loss as one felt across the city, not just on the waterfront.

Not everyone in city government agreed on what should come next. Some pushed for the site’s industrial potential to be preserved, arguing that Yonkers has waterfront infrastructure that should be put to use and that the city needs employers offering real living-wage jobs. Others saw the closure as an opportunity to continue the transformation already underway along the Hudson.

At his 2026 State of the City address, Mayor Spano described the 33-acre site as one of the most valuable properties from here to Albany. The City Council has already expanded downtown mixed-use zoning to include the property. The vision outlined includes new retail, dining, deep-water docking, and proximity to a Metro-North stop just 17 minutes from Midtown, with a required affordable housing set-aside and waterfront open space built in.

A waterfront park adjacent to the site is expected to break ground soon, backed by a $9 million state investment and a potential $15 million from Westchester County.

No developer has been publicly named for the site. What gets built on those 33 acres and who it gets built for is a conversation Yonkers is just beginning to have.