Five years after shuttering two Brooklyn firehouses amid much community protest, the city selected the new groups to develop them for new uses. The lucky winner of the least at Engine 204 at 299 Degraw Street in Cobble Hill is the Brooklyn Philharmonic, which hasn’t had a permanent home since parting ways with BAM a decade ago. Engine 212 at 134 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg will become a community center to be run, ironically, by the same group that was most vocal in protesting its closure, People’s Firehouse. Firefighter groups were uniformly negative about the news. Good economic development should always be accompanied by development that makes communities more attractive places to live and work, said Seth W. Pinsky, president of the NYC Economic Development Corp. The projects will also provide growth opportunities for three important not-for-profit community cultural organizations. You happy with the news?
Developers Picked for 2 Closed Brooklyn Firehouses [NY Times]
City to Sell Firehouses in W’burg and Cobble Hill [NY Times]
Cobble Hill Still Fired Up Over Engine 204 [Brownstoner]
Rally Today to Save Cobble Hill’s Engine 204 [Brownstoner]