Wayne County will focus on wrapping up a deal with Dan Gilbert to build a new jail complex, Executive Warren Evans said Monday, though an option to finish the existing jail remains on the table.

That puts Gilbert closer to getting the incomplete Wayne County Consolidated Jail site at Gratiot Avenue and I-375 for a $1 billion-plus mixed-use development with Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores. The two billionaires plan a Major League Soccer stadium and three high-rises for office, residential and hotel uses.

"While both proposals remain options, I've directed my team to dedicate their time and resources toward attempting to reach a contract with Rock Ventures," Evans said in a statement.

"The Rock Ventures proposal has more upside, less risk and a smaller financial gap than Walsh Construction's proposal. There are, however, many issues to resolve with Rock Ventures before I could recommend the approval of a contract to the County Commission and the County Building Authority."

Among the issues remaining are negotiations over the purchase of city-owned property for a new criminal justice complex built by Rock, and whether the Internal Revenue Service determines whether the county can use bond money left over from the Gratiot jail project to help pay for the Rock Ventures project a few miles north.

“On behalf of Rock Ventures I’d like to thank Warren Evans and his dedicated team for their hard work throughout this process and their confidence in us moving forward together," Rock Ventures Principal Matt Cullen said in a written statement. "We are more confident than ever that this project represents a great opportunity for Wayne County, its residents and our entire community. We remain committed to working together to make the vision of a new criminal justice complex and mixed-use gateway project become reality.”

If the county decides to enter into a contract with Rock Ventures, Gilbert would get the 15-acre jail property he has sought for years for a new development near his Jack Detroit Casino-Hotel Greektown.

Getting the land would likely bolster Gilbert's chance of getting an MLS expansion team. The league's commissioner, Don Garber, has praised the Detroit market and Gilbert and Gores, who are jointly seeking an MLS team. MLS plans to award expansion teams to two cities later this year, and two more sometime after that.

In return for the jail site, Rock Ventures would build the county a new criminal justice complex at East Warren Avenue and I-75, a few miles north of downtown.