Housing Project Once Home to The Supremes Will Be Torn Down

Detroit's mayor announces the Brewster-Douglass projects will soon be no more

As part of an effort to clean up and modernize the city of Detroit, the Frederick Douglass Homes, which are known to most residents as the Brewster projects, will be torn down according to the Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. What's notable about the now-vacant housing project is that it was once home to the Supremes.

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Founding members Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Betty McGlown all lived in the public housing projects before making it big with Motown Records in the 1960s.

A $6.5 million federal grant from the government's Housing and Urban Development division will cover the cost of tearing down the 75 condo-style apartments, two 6-story buildings and four 14-story towers as well as the removal of any below-ground pollution. Demolition could begin in early 2013, Bing announced yesterday.

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"It's going to take us, probably, the better part of a year to get everything down," he said at a news conference in front of the complex. "This total area will be cleaned up."

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