Matt Helms

Detroit Free Press

It could be May before Wayne County finishes vetting a proposal by Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures to build a new jail and criminal justice complex away from downtown in exchange for the current jail site where he and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores hope to build a new soccer arena.

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said today that billionaire Dan Gilbert's proposal to build a new jail and court complex requires "much deeper analysis," and he's calling on county commissioners to approve contracts with firms that would delve into the details of the plan.

Evans said his administration will present contracts to the Wayne County Commission on Wednesday to analyze the proposed jail site and determine whether it would be sufficient for detention and operations at a facility that would combine the Wayne County Jail, Frank Murphy Hall of Justice and adult and juvenile detention facilities.

“This offer needs greater review, and it’s going to take time and effort and resources,” Evans said at a news conference this morning. "There are many questions that need to be answered."

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Evans said that among the questions are whether the proposed complex would be adequate for the county's needs and what it would truly cost the county, considering one provision that would repay Gilbert's organization a portion of any cost savings the county would realize from the presumed cheaper operation of a modern, consolidated criminal justice complex. Evans said he wants a deeper analysis of whether it's appropriate to use savings to pay for the construction, considering one of the main reasons for building new facilities is to save long-term on operations costs.

Evans said he will ask the commission to approve a contract of up to $500,000 for Walsh Construction, the only contractor to respond to the county's request for proposals to build the jail, to prepare a response to Rock's plan. The contract would only be payable if the county opts to go with Gilbert's proposal, which Evans said is no sure thing, given questions about the details of it.

The costs of the other vetting contracts combined would not exceed $265,000.

Also yet to be resolved are questions about the legality of using bonds issued for construction of the Gratiot jail site on a separate project at another location. That concern and others were shared by County Commission Chairman Gary Woronchak, who said that while Gilbert's proposal is "intriguing," it's still unknown whether it protects Wayne County taxpayers.

Woronchak said that if it's determined that bond proceeds can't be used on an alternative site without risking tax exemption, it could cost millions of dollars more and could scuttle the Rock Ventures plan outright.

Woronchak, D-Dearborn, said he's skeptical about the finances of the project, saying he found the idea of paying any operational cost savings back to Rock Ventures "uncomfortably vague and undefined." It's yet to be determined how those savings would be calculated and paid to Rock, and for how long.

"This is an intriguing plan from Rock," Woronchak said, "but I'm a little concerned it's come so late in the game. It's going to cost a little extra to go on this track, and frankly Rock has known all along that this was the direction they could have gone. They could have given this proposal a year ago and we wouldn't have gotten so far along with Walsh Construction."

Rock Ventures has offered to build a new $420-million jail, court and juvenile detention facility near I-75 and Warren Avenue in exchange for land along Gratiot on the east side of downtown where a new soccer arena and residential and commercial development of about $1 billion would be built.

Evans said that Rock Ventures’ deadline for a county response by Feb. 20 isn’t enough time for the review he’s seeking, and he believes that date wasn’t a hard deadline. Rock Ventures didn't directly address the deadline issue but said in a statement that it appreciated Evans recommendation that commissioners consider and evaluate the offer.

“We respect the county’s process and look forward to working side-by-side with the county executive and the county commission," Rock Ventures principal Matt Cullen said. "We have worked hard to develop and deliver to the county a proposal that, we believe, will be the best long-term outcome for the county and for the future of downtown Detroit.”

Evans has maintained that the most cost-effective way to resolve the failed jail -- on which construction stopped more than three years ago amid concerns about cost overruns under his predecessor, Robert Ficano -- is to finish it at the Gratiot site. But Evans has said he would entertain other proposals if they didn’t come at a cost to taxpayers.

Rock’s proposal would take the $300 million Wayne County says it would cost to complete the jail and use it toward the new complex in exchange for the downtown land that abuts the Greektown area, home to the Gilbert-owned Greektown Casino. The deal has won praise from real estate and urban development experts even though significant questions remain.

Contact Matt Helms: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @matthelms.