City starts $17.8M music school in Cobble Hill firehouse

The city has started a $17.8 million conversion of the former Engine Company 204 firehouse at 299 Degraw Street in Cobble Hill into a home for the Noel Pointer Foundation, a youth music education nonprofit. The building has sat vacant since the Fire Department closed it in 2003.

Why it matters

A two-story firehouse on a Cobble Hill side street has been dark for more than two decades, and the city is now spending public money to put it back to use as a music school. For builders and construction managers, it is a live example of a public adaptive-reuse job on a landmark-era building, run through the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) for the Department of Cultural Affairs. 6sqft reported on October 8 that the mayor announced the start of work, and named A.P.N. Construction Corp. as contractor and MBB Architects as architect.

The numbers

The Department of Cultural Affairs said in December 2019 that $6.5 million in capital funding was committed: $3 million from the mayor, $2.5 million from the City Council and $1 million from the borough president. The 2026 announcement, as reported by 6sqft, puts the project at $17.8 million. That is about 2.7 times the 2019 figure. The ratio is our arithmetic, and neither source calls the difference an overrun or explains it.

The city’s records describe the building differently. The 2019 release cited about 4,300 square feet, while 6sqft reported roughly 6,000 square feet, so we do not state a single size. The sources also conflict on age, and we omit the construction year.

DOB NOW shows an Alteration CO job, B01072556-I1, filed on September 11, 2024 for this tax lot (BBL 3004140061) with an initial cost of $5,139,378. We treat that as the filed construction cost for that application only, not as the project budget. Filed cost and total project cost are different numbers.

What’s next

6sqft reported completion is slated for fall 2028. The 2019 release had expected construction to finish three years after it begins. The plan includes soundproofed classrooms, five private lesson rooms, a recording studio and rentable event space. Watch DDC for change orders and schedule updates. More of our coverage of the borough sits on the New York market page.