Frank Witsil, and George Sipple

Detroit Free Press

Billionaire Dan Gilbert and Pistons executive Arn Tellem announced plans today for a $1-billion investment at Wayne County's unfinished jail site for a 25,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium and other developments, including restaurants, hotel rooms, and a commercial office tower.

Any chance of Detroit landing an expansion Major League Soccer franchise is contingent on Wayne County’s unfinished jail site being used as the site for a 20,000-25,000 soccer specific stadium.

“The stadium and the stadium location is a very important and key part of this plan,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber, adding that he quietely visited the site recently.

If the unfinished jail site can’t be used, it’s unlikely that MLS will seriously consider Detroit, Garber and Gilbert both said.

"If you have a Plan B, it distracts from Plan A," Gilbert said. "There really is no Plan B."

The soccer stadium plan calls for relocating the current Wayne County Jail, Frank Murphy Hall of Justice and the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility to Mound Road. Gilbert has been trying to buy the unfinished jail site from the county, recently offering $50 million. The county, which has already sunk $150 million into the snake-bitten and stalled project, did not accept the bid.

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Gilbert's announcement on Wednesday could be designed to apply pressure on the county to give up the prime downtown spot. Gilbert said there would be an economic analysis of what it would cost county taxpayers to build the jail at Mound Road and for a soccer stadium complex to go on the current jail site

"This is going to take way more analysis," Gilbert said. "What's the gap right now between building the criminal justice system where it was planned originally with the jail and an alternative site. What are the actual hard dollar differences?

"Nobody really knows it exactly."

But Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said the guarantee is key. He said any plan to build a jail elsewhere would have to cost taxpayers no more than what it would cost to finish construction at the Gratiot site, which the county has previously targeted at $175 million. And a major additional cost of moving to a different site would be the expense of building a new courthouse.

Evans said the project would also need to fit the county's current timeframe of having a request for proposal to complete the project at Gratiot by the fall. Evans said he is not opposed to economic development that would benefit the city, but taxpayers must be protected.

"... My concern is how do I build a jail for the cheapest amount of money that gets passed on to the taxpayers, and how do I keep it on a timeline that we’ve been working on?" Evans said, noting that he has agreed to continue meeting on the issue.

County Commissioners, who would have to vote on the plan, offered a mix of opinions, but several said taxpayers would need to be "made whole."

The current jail site is about 15 acres bounded by Gratiot Avenue, Chrysler Service Drive, Macomb and Beaubien Streets.

Local architect Matt Rossetti said the proposed site and stadium complex would connect Greektown Entertainment District, Eastern Market, Comerica Park and Ford Field, the new Detroit Red Wings hockey arena to create one of the most dense urban sports and entertainment districts in the country.

The project would also include an office tower, a residential tower, covered parking, open and covered plazas, hotels, restaurants and retail shops. A raised level, anchored by the towers, would also include a half-mile green roof park that sits atop three levels of public amenities.

"This isn't just about an MLS stadium," Rossetti said. "It's about a grander vision and one that is composing a sports and entertainment district. Obviously a Major League Soccer stadium will be a key anchor, but there's going to be multiple uses."

The stadium also would be used for amateur soccer, rugby, lacrosse other sports — and as a venue for other major events.

"Sports and entertainment districts are clearly the wave of the future for urban stadium and urban arenas, because they offer so much more," Rossetti said. "

"There's a lot of work to be done," Gilbert said, saying that specifics on the square footage had yet to be worked out. "Right now, what we're trying to do is paint the vision for everybody that absolutely can be done."

Gilbert, Piston's executive Arn Tellem, and Garber, the MLS commissioner, held a press conferences in the Rossetti architecture firm in downtown Detroit to outline the plans for the soccer stadium and other developments at the current jail site.

"It's a perfect match between the MLS and Detroit,"said Tellem, who is vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment. "It starts first and foremost with the fans and their passion for the game. As all of you know, there is considerable support and great interest in soccer throughout Detroit and Michigan."

Staff writer Eric D. Lawrence contribute to this report.