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Warren Evans (file photo)
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans isn't giving Dan Gilbert an automatic green light, but on Tuesday he seemed far more pleased with the second proposal from Gilbert's Rock Ventures involving the building of a major league soccer stadium at the site of the unfinished county jail in downtown Detroit.
"Four days before my deadline, Rock has submitted an alternative proposal that is much better than their previous offer," Evans said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "It is unlikely this improved offer would have come without all the fiscal progress we’ve made in Wayne County. Working with the County Commission, we’ll vet the offer thoroughly. We will take the same thoughtful, measured approach in vetting this proposal as we’ve done in every step in dealing with the County’s fiscal crisis.”
Last April, Gilbert and Pistons owner Tom Gores proposed to build the soccer complex on the site, but the county felt they offered too little money. They also did not really address the displacement of the jail and county justice system. The offer was rejected. .
On Monday, Rock Ventures made an offer to swap the jail site with the county in exchange for a new, "state-of-the-art, consolidated criminal justice center" that includes the construction of new adult and juvenile detention facilities (Divisions 1 and 2) and a new criminal courthouse (replacing the current Frank Murphy Hall of Justice), the Free Press reported.
Rock Ventures said it is prepared to build the county a new, high-tech criminal justice complex worth an estimated $420 million, in exchange for $300 million from the county, the transfer of the Gratiot Avenue property and a credit to be paid to the company for the savings a new consolidated criminal justice complex would provide, the Freep reported.
Not everyone is buying into the latest proposal including some Wayne County commissioners, reports Chad Livengood of Crain's Detroit Business.
