'Bittersweet' end for Detroit's Brewster housing project

By Steve Pardo
The Detroit News


THEN AND NOW : The Supremes — Florence Ballard, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson — walk near Detroit’s Frederick Douglass public housing complex in 1965 in a Detroit News archive photo. Almost 50 years later in the exact same spot, the abandoned buildings — known to most as the Brewster projects — are slated for demolition this year. (Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)

Detroit — The four high-rise gutted and abandoned remnants of the Frederick Douglass public housing complex are one of the most notorious examples standing symbolizing the city's decline.

But Mayor Dave Bing promises to change that. The four 14-story apartment complexes along with the two midrise buildings and burned-out townhomes will be demolished by the end of the year. New housing and commercial redevelopment are planned at the now decrepit — but geographically desirable — location.

The demolition will be a tough day for Maxine Ballard, the sister of the late Supremes' singer Florence Ballard.

"It's really bittersweet. I was hoping they would renovate or fix them up so people could move into them again," said Ballard, who lived in the projects with her family in the 1950s.

Ballard has written a book on her late sister that includes passages about the projects. "There are a lot of good memories there," she said. "I look back at it and it makes me smile every day. A lot of good people lived in those buildings."

The Douglass properties were named after the noted abolitionist and author. The towers are often linked with the neighboring townhouses on Brewster Street and commonly referred to as "the Brewster projects."

The Brewster Homes provided a stable community for African-Americans and are registered as a Michigan historic site as "the nation's first federally funded public housing development for African-Americans."

In addition to Diana Ross and the Ballards, the complex was home to former Motown greats Mary Wilson and Smokey Robinson and comedienne Lily Tomlin.

But by the 1980s, the neighborhoods were in decline. The last of the tenants were out only four years ago, but since then, the apartments have been gutted of anything of value. Windows were smashed or stolen, creating a complex of see-through buildings, obviously abandoned to all who travel along the junction of Interstates 75 and 375.

Bing promised in his recent State of the City address for a change to the Detroit skyline in nine months.

"We are committed to working together with HUD and the Detroit Housing Commission to demolish, by the end of the year, one of Detroit's major eyesores, the Frederick Douglass housing development — known to most as the 'Brewster projects,'" Bing said. "We will create affordable housing and commercial redevelopment in its place."

City officials see the location as a major selling point.

"It sits in the middle of major development currently occurring in our city. This includes the two stadiums, Midtown, Brush Park, Eastern Market, Dequindre Cut, Vanguard/Detroit Medical Center," said Karla Henderson, Bing's group executive of planning and facilities.

Also, the blighted structures put a strain on the police and fire departments that must respond to fires and criminal activity at the site, she said.

City officials said there is interest to redevelop the land but declined to provide details.

The first hurdle, not surprisingly, is money. An architectural estimate pegged demolition costs at $9.8 million, said Eugene Jones, executive director of the Detroit Housing Commission. And just where the money will come from is something the commission and the city are still working on, he said.

"We hope to seek funding from a variety of places," he said.

Funding from federal or state agencies can come with more strings and stipulations than from the private sector. But nothing is being counted out, Jones said. The commission has looked to sell the towers since they closed in 2008. But that was when development and housing markets plummeted, Jones pointed out.

The last four years of neglect as well as the towers' age and construction make rehabilitation unrealistic. But now the commission isn't looking to sell.

"We're going to work with the city and the mayor to identify funding in a partnership with the city to revitalize," he said. "You've got to knock the buildings down, clear the land and make it a buildable site."

The adjacent Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center — also abandoned and graffiti-riddled — isn't beyond repair, however. Plans call for that facility to be rehabilitated, although there is no timeline for repairs or a reopening, Jones said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to sign off on updates and improvements. It signed off on demolition, years ago after the dwellings were abandoned.

"HUD fully supports the city's effort to demolish these long-vacant and blighted buildings and we're happy to work with local officials in any way we can," said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Any redevelopment would be at least two to four years away, Johnson said.

The best thing the city could do is to knock the structures down even if redevelopment isn't yet secured, said Jim Bieri, president and CEO of Stokas Bieri Real Estate in Detroit.

"It's doing nothing now except showing the outside world that we've got another dysfunctional situation on our hands," he said.

"If you can't find an alternative use you can at least remove the structures and provide for the opportunity of redevelopment. What's the negative of knocking it down?"

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