The Jeffries Homes, also called the Jeffries Housing Projects, was a public housing project located in Detroit, Michigan, near the Lodge Freeway. It included 13 high-rises and hundreds of row house units, and was named for Detroit Recorder's Court Judge Edward J. Jeffries, Sr., who was also father of Detroit Mayor Edward J. Jeffries, Jr.

History

The first phase, Jeffries West, opened in 1953 as a complex of eight 14-story towers. The second phase included five additional towers in Jeffries West and Jeffries East, 415 apartments in a set of low-rise apartment blocks, added in 1955. An additional tower was demolished approximately two years later. 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. A development by Scripps Park Associates was built on the site of Jeffries West and named "Woodbridge Estates" at a cost of $92 million.

Jeffries East was demolished in 2008 and the site redeveloped as mixed-income complex named "Cornerstone," completed in late 2012 developed in three phases.. It included the development of 180 rental units in 30 buildings of townhomes and duplexes, consisting of 138 public housing units and 42 affordable housing rental units. Former residents of Jeffries East in good standing with the Detroit Housing Commission were permitted to return to the new complex.

References

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