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 Projects, 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 towers; 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.
Redevelopment
In April 2001, ten of the towers of Jeffries West were imploded to make way for the redevelopment of the housing project. The remaining tenants of the Jeffries were moved to Freedom Place and Research Park housing complexes, approximately 8 city blocks from the Jeffries, while the redevelopment took place.[1] A development by Scripps Park Associates was built on the site of Jeffries West and named Woodbridge Estates.[1] Woodbridge Estates includes 281 mixed-income housing rental units, 101 owner-occupancy attached and detached single-family homes, a 100-unit senior housing apartment building, plus 297 units of senior housing in the three remaining towers of the former Jeffries West.[2]
In March 2008, the Detroit Housing Commmission began demolition on the low-rise housing project known as Jeffries East, across the Lodge Freeway from the former Jeffries West, to make way for a Cornerstone Estates, a mixed-income housing project developed by Scripps Park Associates.[3] 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".[4] Constructed in three phases, construction on the first phase began in October 2010, with all phases of the project being completed by November 2012.[3]
References
- ^ a b Gentrification of Detroit: Will Shiny New Projects Push Out the Old Residents?, by Brandon Q. White / The Michigan Messenger, published 27 December 2007
- ^ "Experience, Woodbridge Estates". Rosenberg Housing Group. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Cornerstone". Detroit Housing Commission. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
- ^ LONG-AWAITED DEMOLITION BEGINS AT JEFFRIES EAST PUBLIC HOUSING, HUD Press Release, published 20 March 2008
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.