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Warren Evans (file photo)
Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans said Monday he wants a more intensive study to determine if its best to finish building the jail on Gratiot or swap the land with Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures, which has proposed building a soccer complex on the site.
In turn, Gilbert has proposed to build a $420 million justice complex at E. Forest Avenue and I-75 and charge the county $300 million. A decision from the county could come in months.
“The Rock Ventures offer presents the County an option that warrants much deeper analysis before determining whether it’s the best course of action to finally address our jail issue,” Evans said in a statement. “I appreciate that Dan Gilbert and the Rock team submitted it before our deadline. I am instructing my team to take the same thoughtful, and deliberate approach in vetting the offer as we did with the County’s fiscal crisis.”
He offered a set of recommendations to the County Commission while he looks at both proposals, but noted:
"Quite frankly, today, we’re closer to building on Gratiot than than we are at Rock’s proposed site."
“We must know that the $420 million proposed site will fully meet the County’s criminal justice needs and there’s a lot of work left to figure that out,” Evans said. “We also need to do our due diligence on the bond and credit issues to make sure any action we take is in the County’s financial interests.”
