Proposed land swap the latest in Wayne County jail saga

Wayne County and the City of Detroit have agreed to a land swap in the next step of the continuing jail saga. In this deal, according to a Wayne County press release, “the County would acquire part of the DDOT property bounded by the I-75 Service Drive and E. Warren Ave. In exchange, the City would acquire the former American Motors Corp. (AMC) headquarters on Detroit’s Westside, which is currently owned by the County Land Bank.”

The deal does not impact DDOT operations at the facility.

Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures has proposed building a criminal justice complex at the I-75 Service Drive site. Rock Ventures would like to build a soccer stadium/hotel/office development at the currently stalled construction site at Gratiot and 375.

Wayne County is also considering a proposal from Walsh Construction to finish the jail construction and the county has a December 1 deadline to determine whether they will pursue their proposal.

If the county moves forward with Rock Ventures, that complex would include a 2,280 bed jail, a criminal courthouse, prosecutor offices, sheriff administrative offices, and a juvenile detention facility. Rock Ventures’ proposal approximated the cost of this complex at $520.3 million, with the County to pay $380 million of this amount.

The AMC site, which was at risk of demolition last year, will be offered through the city as a redevelopment opportunity.

The land swap deal would still need to be approved by the Detroit City Council, the Wayne County Commission, and the Wayne County Land Bank Board.