Wayne County has announced that it will not complete the unfinished jail located on Gratiot in Detroit.
The announcement comes as the county and Rock Ventures negotiate toward a deal that would create a new criminal justice center near I-75 and Warren Avenue.
“We’re making progress and moving toward a deal with Rock. But there hasn’t been a simple step in this entire process, nor will there be,” said Wayne County Executive Warren Evans. “We’ve had to vet two proposals, are working to acquire land from the city, need to settle an issue with the IRS and are negotiating a half a billion dollar development deal – it all takes time, but we’re confident we’ll get there.”
A stipend will be paid to Walsh as compensation. The company was the lone bidder on the Gratiot project.
“The stipend ensured we received a proposal so we could fully evaluate finishing the jail at Gratiot," Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans said. “As we dug into the project with an actual proposal, the more we recognized it had too much inherent risk for the County at too high a price. We’re negotiating a deal with Rock that caps the County’s costs and creates the best solution available to our jail problem.”
The proposal would build the county a new criminal justice center with a jail, courthouse, prosecutor office, sheriff's office and juvenile detention center at the cost of $520.3 million.
Wayne County would be responsible for $380 million plus the cost of buying land from the city near I-75 and Warren Ave. Rock would also pay for all of the cost overruns.
The deal would give the city the former American Motors headquarters site on Plymouth Road in exchange for 11 acres of city-owned land.
