The unfinished Wayne County Jail.
Wayne County Jail site.
Wayne County appears to be moving closer to deciding the fate of the unfinished jail on Gratiot, which remains a sore symbol of mismanagement. Construction was halted in 2013 due to cost overruns, and since then, it has cost the county $1.6 million a month to keep.
Walsh Construction and Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures submitted offers on Wednesday. A final decision is expected in late July.
“The goal was to provide the County with alternative solutions to the jail project and we’ve done that. We’re finally able to fully evaluate the proposals and pursue what’s best for Wayne County,” Evans said in a statement. “We’ll work diligently to move this forward as quickly as we can. Just like everyone else in Wayne County, I’m tired of talk. I want the jail project resolved.”
Walsh’s proposal includes two jail options at Gratiot, with nearly 1,608 beds at $269 million and a second proposal of 2,200 beds at the cost of $317.6 million, reports Katrease Stafford of the Detroit Free Press.
Rock Ventures is offering to build the county a new Criminal Justice Center with a 2,280 bed jail, criminal courthouse, prosecutor offices, sheriff administrative offices and a juvenile detention facility for about $520.3 million on 13 acres of land owned by the City of Detroit, bounded by the I-75 Service Drive, E. Warren Ave., E. Ferry, Russell and Frederick, the paper reports.
The county would be responsible for $380 million, plus the cost of acquiring the land and Rock would be responsible for cost overruns, a press release says.
Gilbert hopes the county takes him up on his offer to clear the way to build a soccer complex at the Gratiot site.
