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Wayne County's Commission has approved a land exchange that brings billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert one step closer to building a $533 million new criminal justice center in the city, The Detroit News reports:
The commission voted Thursday to accept 11 acres of Detroit Department of Transportation property on Warren Avenue near Interstate 75 in exchange for $775,000 or the shuttered American Motor Corp. headquarters on Detroit’s west side. Detroit city officials have already said they will take the blighted AMC building and redevelop it.
The swap works in Gilbert’s favor because last year he proposed to build the criminal justice center on the DDOT site under the condition that the county gets the land from the city. Detroit’s City Council signed off on the land swap in November.
Wayne in March announced a tentative agreement with Dan Gilbert's Rock Development to build a $533-million criminal justice center north of downtown. The site is between the I-75 Service Drive and East Warren Avenue.
The project calls for Rock Venture to provide four buildings "as a solution to its long-stalled Gratiot jail project," a county announcement said last month. Wayne County will pay $380 millions, with Rock Development paying the remainder, including any overruns.
The project will create a 2,280-bed jail, offices for the sheriff, prosecutors and administrative staff, a courthouse and juvenile detention facility. Completion is expected in 2022.
As part of the deal, the county will transfer to Gilbert the existing Division I and II jails, juvenile detention facility and Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. Those parcels will be leased back to the county for $1 a year until the county moves to the new site.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans issued a statement afterwards:
“The proposed Criminal Justice Center is a very complex deal. We have worked very hard for a long time to get it right. Simply put, it is what Wayne County needs. The tentative agreement we have reached with Rock Ventures is a good deal for the citizens of Wayne County and it is the best deal we could have hoped for given the circumstances. In that spirit, I am pleased that the Wayne County Commission voted in favor of the land exchange between Wayne County and the City of Detroit which gets us a step closer to finalizing this project.”
Related coverage by Charlie LeDuff:
Check the Fine Print -- County Jail Deal with Gilbert Is Bad for Taxpayers
