Wayne County Executive Warren Evans
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans
Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures commissioned a report that concludes that the economic impact of its plan to redevelop the half-built Wayne County Jail site in downtown Detroit and build the county a new criminal justice complex a few miles north totals $2.39 billion for Southeast Michigan, Crain's Detroit Business reports. That includes construction and jobs, both temporary and permanent.
But guess who's not impressed?
A very key person in the equation, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, who issues a statement Tuesday afternoon after the study was released:
"This study does nothing to sway my thinking. My standard for Rock’s proposal has been absolutely clear: Is Rock prepared to build the County a criminal justice complex in a timely fashion, with buildings that meet our needs, at a price Wayne County can afford? If they can’t meet that standard, everything else is irrelevant. This study moves us no closer to answering that fundamental question."
Kirk Pinho of Crain's writes:
The 14-page report, completed by the University of Michigan Center for Sport & Policy and commissioned by Detroit-based Rock Ventures, says the redevelopment of 15-acre Gratiot Avenue property into a Major League Soccer stadium and three high-rise buildings for residential, office and hotel use is expected to cost $1.462 billion while Gilbert's plan to build a new criminal justice complex for the county at I-75 and East Forest Avenue would cost $420 million, bringing that expected investment to $1.882 billion...
The total economic impact, when factoring in indirect and other effects, is $2.39 billion supporting 32,133 jobs during construction of the new criminal justice complex, stadium and high-rises, according to the report.
Evans also says:
I represent Wayne County taxpayers who continue to pay $1.2 million a month on a stalled jail they were promised years ago. I also have a responsibility to the employees, inmates and visiting families who suffer through deplorable jail conditions that continue to decline, due in large part, to that fact the County never completed the Gratiot jail after spending more than $150 million.
If the benefits of one project over another are so overwhelming, it’s on those who stand to gain from it to create an alternative option to Gratiot that best protects Wayne County taxpayers. And they need to do it with the urgency and focus that takes into account the impact this project has already had on our residents, just six months removed from a consent agreement necessitated by a deep fiscal crisis.
