Last month an impromptu group of "urban explorers" infiltrated the abandoned and very much off-limits Domino Sugar Refinery on the East River in Williamsburg. The massive complex, built in 1884, was once the largest in the world, producing at its peak 3 million pounds of sugar a day and employing some 5,000 workers. It closed in 2004, and was later bought by a developer who tried (and failed) to turn it into a luxury condominium complex. That project was abandoned amidst the economic turmoil of recent years, but was recently taken up again by Two Trees Management, which gentrified much of DUMBO.

Two Trees bought the complex for $185 million, and is currently deciding what shape the "New Domino" will take. For now, the site sits as empty and forlorn as ever—except when a couple dozen curious adventurers risk arrest to explore it. And you can read all about what they found in our previous story about their pre-dawn "Wanderlust" expedition.

