A deal to swap the former American Motors headquarters in exchange for 11 acres of Detroit-owned land to build a $520-million criminal justice complex near I-75 is moving forward despite an announcement Thursday that a plan to build a 23,000-seat soccer stadium on the failed jail site has been scrapped.

The proposed soccer stadium was part of a project by billionaires Dan Gilbert and Tom Gores, who announced last April a plan for a $1-billion development at the unfinished downtown Wayne County Jail site.

Read more:

Ford family joins Detroit's MLS bid, offers Ford Field as venue

Gilbert's soccer stadium, jail proposal move forward under new deal

Obtaining the city-owned land off of I-75 was a crucial piece in moving forward Gilbert's Rock Ventures' proposal to build a new criminal justice complex. But Rock Ventures Principal Matt Cullen said in a statement Thursday that the company remains committed to building a mixed-use development on the Gratiot site.

“From the time we started working on the Gratiot site, we have always been focused on the importance of a great mixed-use development at the gateway to downtown Detroit, soccer was just a potential component of our vision,” Cullen said. “But once we better understood Ford Field’s unique attributes, including the recent renovations and a bowl design that is perfectly suited for soccer, we decided to change course. We have made clear to the county that we are still fully committed to moving forward with our proposal to build out a new criminal justice complex on Warren and I-75. We are also fully committed to a mixed-use development on the Gratiot site that will be an economic driver for our community.”

According to the statement, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan have been involved in the evaluation of stadium sites and have been "strong advocates" of the Ford Field proposal since discussions with the Ford family began.

At the time, the application for an expansion team filed in January listed only the jail site as a location.

But the Free Press reported Thursday that the Ford family, owner of the Detroit Lions NFL team, will join the Gilbert- and Gores-backed effort to bring the MLS to downtown Detroit.

Ford Field would now be the venue to host the team if the bid is successful. The formal announcement of the deal was expected later Thursday.

The partnership officially signals the end of plans to build a stadium on the Gratiot Avenue jail site.

Evans said in a statement that using Ford Field rather than building a new soccer stadium on the Gratiot site "makes sense."

"Today’s news could eventually open up other exciting options for Gratiot in the future," Evans said in a news release. "It would be great to land an MLS team at Ford Field and bring other new investment to Gratiot, but this doesn’t change the path forward for us to address our unfinished jail. Wayne County’s focus is to complete negotiations with Rock Ventures on a new state-of-the-art criminal justice center on the DDOT property, which is the best option. Gratiot, however, is still in play and our mission is to get the result that is in the best interest of Wayne County’s 1.7 million residents."

Duggan said in a statement Thursday that "Detroit is fortunate to have a state of the art stadium like Ford Field" and that it makes sense to utilize a stadium already in the heart of downtown that just underwent a $100-million renovation.

Duggan told the Free Press last month that the city was helping Gilbert and Gores lure a Major League Soccer franchise to Detroit.

"This partnership allows us to bring major league soccer to a first-class facility inside our growing sports and entertainment district and eliminates the potential request for Detroit tax dollars to construct another new stadium," Duggan said.

Gilbert's proposal to build a new criminal justice complex initially sought 13 acres of the 22-acre site, which is bounded by the I-75 Service Drive and East Warren Avenue, and includes Detroit Department of Transportation administrative offices.

But officials said the deal is now for just slightly more than 11 acres of land behind DDOT's bus terminal, ensuring the transit's operations won't be impacted.

The deal would also enable the city to acquire the 1.4 million-square-foot complex of the former American Motors headquarters on Plymouth Road on Detroit's west side, which is currently owned by the Wayne County Land Bank.

“The city is swapping land we don’t need to the county to enable the county to build a criminal justice center,” Duggan said in a statement at the time. “In exchange, the county is swapping a vacant parcel in west Detroit that the city wants to take on as a redevelopment project to improve the neighborhood. This is a win-win.”

Duggan said the city plans to market the old headquarters for redevelopment but the subsequent purchase agreement must first clear hurdles of approval by the Detroit City Council, Wayne County Commission and the Wayne County Land Bank Board.

But, according to the agreement, Detroit has the option to forgo swapping the land and instead opt to receive the fair market value of the city property from Wayne County, which is estimated to be $757,000. The city has until Nov. 1, 2018 to make that selection.

Ground was broken for the proposed jail, near I-375, under the leadership of then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano in September 2011. Since then, it has cost county taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Work has been halted at the site since June 2013 as estimates showed cost overruns pushing the project $91 million over the $300-million budget. The idled site is costing taxpayers about $1.2 million a month in bond payments, storage and security.

But some Wayne County commissioners have raised concerns, claiming they've been left in the dark amid the negotiations and plans.

Commissioner Ray Basham said Thursday he was unaware of the scrapped Gratiot soccer stadium plan and that he didn't support it being built on Gratiot anyway. Basham said he still supports the plan from Walsh Construction to put the jail at the Gratiot site.

"It seems like the people who actually get a vote on it are the last to know sometimes," Basham said. "We could have had this new jail built, done, people in it, and saving the taxpayers' money if we hadn't hit the reset button when we found out all the bad stuff that happened," Basham said, in reference to the projected cost overrun and legal issues involving the jail project. "There is no good alternative but the bad alternative keeps getting worse, so why don't we move forward and have Walsh Construction finish this negative thing and get on with it?"

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759. Staff writer JC Reindl contributed to this report.