Jeffries Projects

The Jeffries Homes , also called the Jeffries Housing Projects, was a public housing project located in Detroit, Michigan, near the Lodge Freeway. It included two sections: Jeffries West, a high-rise and low-rise complex located west of the freeway, and Jeffries East, a low-rise complex located east of the freeway. The project was named for Edward J. Jeffries, a former Detroit Recorder's Court judge, who was also father of a Detroit mayor.

History

The Jeffries Projects opened in 1953 as a complex of eight 14-story buildings; five additional towers and low-rise apartment blocks were added in 1955. At first, the complex was popular among many Detroit residents who were eager to move into the new buildings. But by the late 1960s, the buildings had become a haven for drug dealers and an area with a high crime rate.

The Jeffries Projects fell into severe disrepair, with the heaters breaking down in several buildings in February 1975, leaving tenants with no heat for five days. A few drug-dealing gangs, "Young Boys Inc." and the "Pony Down Crew", expanded their territory into the Jeffries. Tenants would perch on the high-rise towers and shoot at police officers and other outsiders, to keep them out. The location of the Jefferies was so sought after because it was easy to transport drugs into Detroit's "Cass Corridor" or "Skid Row", because of the high number of middle class white men who traveled to the area specifically for drugs or prostitutes. With the fall of Y.B.I. and Pony Down, the Jeffries Boys took over the projects.

Woodbridge Estates

In April 2001, most of the towers of Jeffries West were imploded, while three were renovated, and converted to age-restricted housing. The tenants of the Jeffries were moved to Freedom Place and Research Park Housing Complexes, approximately 8 city blocks from the Jeffries. A mixed-use housing development, named Woodbridge Estates, was built on the site of the now-imploded towers of Jeffries West. Some in the community have voiced concerns about gentrification concerning the building of this new community.

Cornerstone

In March 2008, the low-rise housing project known as Jeffries East, across the Lodge Freeway from the former Jeffries West, began demolition to make way for a new development named Cornerstone. Jeffries East originally included 252 units of public housing; Cornerstone includes 180 units of mixed-income housing. Of the units, 138 are public housing and 42 are marketed as "affordable".

See also

• Public housing in the United States
• Public housing in Detroit

External links

• Jeffries towers tumble — 2001 article in the Detroit News about the demolition of many of the Jeffries Projects towers.
• About the Jeffries Projects — Information about the buildings in Jeffries Project.