The University of Michigan plans to open an "innovation center" in downtown Detroit on the site of the aborted Wayne County jail project as part of a $300 million-plus development, according to three sources close to the plan.

More:Renderings show what U-M's new Innovation Center in Detroit could look like

The innovation center will be a development partnership between real estate mogul Stephen Ross, a Detroit native and U-M alumnus, and Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert. The project will include a hotel, and total costs could be $500 million to $750 million over time if other buildings are constructed, including housing.

Sources said that Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm will be the project's developer, with Gilbert and Ross each donating significant sums to help finance the deal. However, additional funding is still needed.

U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald declined to comment on the plans.

More:Wayne County jail finally gets a new home in Detroit

More:Wayne County scraps plan to finish failed Gratiot jail site

The 190,000-square-foot innovation center will be aimed at technology discovery, and will house U-M researchers and professors in a variety of disciplines, including automotive mobility, sustainability and cybersecurity.

There also are plans for a conference center inside the former Detroit Police Department headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, according to Crain's Detroit.

Mayor Mike Duggan is scheduled to announce details of the planned development at a 10:30 a.m. Wednesday event. The project will "further re-establish Detroit as a leader in technology and innovation," according to the event itinerary. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to attended.

Gilbert's organization acquired the former jail site on Gratiot from the county for $21.3 million in a 2018 deal that requires Gilbert to build a new county justice center by 2022 on a different site at 1301 E. Warren.

The aborted jail site, at the edge of downtown, was once eyed for a possible Major League Soccer stadium, but that vision was scrapped. The U-M project is the latest change of plans.

Construction of the jail was halted in June 2013 after cost overruns pushed the project $91 million over its $300-million budget. The jail's half-built ruins remained on the property until recently.

Ross is founder of New York-based Related Companies and a major U-M donor, especially to the university's business school, which renamed itself the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

His Related Companies is a lead developer of the new $25 billion Hudson Yards megaproject in Manhattan, which has been described as an upscale city within a city with multiple skyscrapers and a shopping mall.

Related's brand holdings include the upscale gym chain Equinox and popular indoor cycling fitness chain SoulCycle. He is also the majority owner of the Miami Dolphins.

In an interview with Crain's Detroit, Ross compared the planned U-M innovation center to Cornell University's Cornell Tech urban campus on New York City's Roosevelt Island, which opened in 2017.

However, sources emphasized that the Detroit center will not represent a new campus for U-M, like the university's Dearborn or Flint campuses.

ContactJC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.