Unfinished Wayne County Jail for Sale

[raptor56]

The Detroit News reported Monday that aides to Executive Robert Ficano have had secret talks for weeks to sell the unfinished jail downtown [[accross the street from Ford Field on Madison), two nearby jails and a juvenile justice facility to Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. In return, the county would sign a 99-year, $1-a-year lease with the state for the Mound Road Correctional Facility and build a criminal justice complex there.


http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2VLuFd4t7

[southen]

yes please!

[Honky Tonk]

The Detroit News reported Monday that aides to Executive Robert Ficano have had secret talks for weeks to sell the unfinished jail downtown [[accross the street from Ford Field on Madison), two nearby jails and a juvenile justice facility to Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. In return, the county would sign a 99-year, $1-a-year lease with the state for the Mound Road Correctional Facility and build a criminal justice complex there.


http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2VLuFd4t7

Please tax me more so we can straighten out this mess. Thanx.

[Johnnny5]

"The project was led by officials who are no longer with the county but have been cited as the focus of the FBI investigation — former economic development director Turkia Mullin and Azzam Elder.

County commissioners have said they were pressured to approve bonds in late 2010 to take advantage of a federal program that offered low interest rates on bonds. They approved the jail over warnings from their staff.
"It is still unclear how this project would benefit Wayne County from a financial perspective," a commission analyst wrote in a 2011 report.
The county bought the jail site in 2011 for $14 million from Greektown Casino. Ficano's former deputy executive, Charlie J. Williams, made $420,000 in brokerage fees on the deal.
Walbridge Aldinger was selected over objections from contractors who complained the process favored the company. Its CEO, John Rakolta, served on a board of a nonprofit led by Mullin that was paying her a $75,000 bonus atop her $200,000 salary.

Mullin's former aide, Anthony Parlovecchio, left the county in February 2011 and was hired to ensure the jail project was on time and budget. The job was to pay him as much as $1.9 million; he was fired at Ficano's behest over concerns about a conflict of interest. He has sued the county.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2VLxJdSf9


Turkey Mullin and more unethical shenanigans. What a surprise!

[Honky Tonk]

The Detroit News reported Monday that aides to Executive Robert Ficano have had secret talks for weeks to sell the unfinished jail downtown [[accross the street from Ford Field on Madison), two nearby jails and a juvenile justice facility to Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. In return, the county would sign a 99-year, $1-a-year lease with the state for the Mound Road Correctional Facility and build a criminal justice complex there.

This has me confused. I'm reading the deal is between the County and Dan Gilbert, [[well, his organization), where did the deal for 99-year, $1-a-year lease with the state come in? Does Gilbert have enough clout now to speak for the State? Yes, I did read the entire Detroit Noose article and my question still stands. Robert Fiasco needs to turn his resignation in TODAY.

[RickBeall]

The end result sounds more reasonable, at least, than what they had planned.

[Honky Tonk]

The end result sounds more reasonable, at least, than what they had planned.

And a hard kick to the groin is better then a sharp stick to the eye.

[cman710]

This has me confused. I'm reading the deal is between the County and Dan Gilbert, [[well, his organization), where did the deal for 99-year, $1-a-year lease with the state come in? Does Gilbert have enough clout now to speak for the State? Yes, I did read the entire Detroit Noose article and my question still stands. Robert Fiasco needs to turn his resignation in TODAY.

My understanding based on the article is that there are two separate deals. In the first, Dan Gilbert will buy the land and the unfinished jail, for a price that has not been specified. In the second, the county will lease the Mound Round Correctional Facility from the state and build a correctional facility there instead. Presumably, a facility located there would cost much less to construct, so the County would still come out ahead better than if it finished the jail in Detroit.

[Honky Tonk]

Thanx. I guess the Detroit Noose omitted a part.

[401don]

Will these new plans not still leave part or all of the existing court buildings in place? I don't see how removing the new structure will create a clear path between Greektown and the stadium district.

[rex]

did they not already spend 100 million? So if Gilbert buys the parcel will he be responsible for cleaning up the mess already there OR will the county be on the hook for that?
Nothing like throwing money away

[Honky Tonk]

Nothing like throwing money away

Especially if it's not yours.

[Danny]

Good for Gilbert! He has the money and the ventures. Especially he doesn't want to see a county government instant eyesore next to Gliberttown Neighborhood.

[cman710]

did they not already spend 100 million? So if Gilbert buys the parcel will he be responsible for cleaning up the mess already there OR will the county be on the hook for that?
Nothing like throwing money away

In theory, there isn't much of a financial difference between Gilbert paying a higher price for it and the county cleaning it up vs. Gilbert paying a lower price and cleaning it up itself. However, Gilbert would undoubtedly clean up the mess more efficiently than the county, so I hope he is the one to do it, even if it means the county earns less from the sale.

[Zug]

Will these new plans not still leave part or all of the existing court buildings in place? I don't see how removing the new structure will create a clear path between Greektown and the stadium district.

I think it's more reasonable to try to develop around courts. Those are expected in downtowns. However, it's a lot tougher to encourage development next to or across the street from a jail. If all of the jail complexes are gone, that would open up the area a lot. Those are some fairly big footprints. But Gilbert will need to go the next step and redevelop or build things there.

[downtownguy]

One wonders... With the Juvenile Detention Facility also part of the rumored deal with Gilbert, he would have 3 full blocks available for development from the Greektown Casino north to Gratiot. Originally, Greektown was going to build their permanent casino at Gratiot and St. Antoine. Is Gilbert thinking of revisiting that plan? Greektown is the smallest and has the lowest revenues of the three casinos. This could give them a much bigger footprint and Gilbert a string of casino properties leading from the stadia to Greektown. With the casino gone, Trapper's Alley could be redeveloped.

[jackie5275]

Interestingly, if this deal goes through & the old, old jail gets demolished, it will be the first time since 1847 that the jail wasn't on that site.

[jackie5275]

I think it's more reasonable to try to develop around courts. Those are expected in downtowns.

My understanding is that the courts would relocate out to the Mound site. This would be similar to what Oakland County has where everything is on one campus.

[Detroitnerd]

Interestingly, if this deal goes through & the old, old jail gets demolished, it will be the first time since 1847 that the jail wasn't on that site.

That's one of the great things about this board. Where else would I have heard that?

So a construction firm got to burn through $100 million of work, and now gets to leave, taking its profits? What is the firm?

Also, this isn't unprecedented. Remember how Wayne County built the new terminal, then, six months later, demolished part of it to build it again?

Anyway, jails have long been at the center of graft and mismanagement. Further to Jackie's point about longstanding traditions and defaults, IIRC, in 1816 the feds gave Detroit 10,000 acres to sell off to pay for a jail downtown. When all the valuable land was finally sold, Detroit's jail still wasn't built yet ...

[motz]

So a construction firm got to burn through $100 million of work, and now gets to leave, taking its profits? What is the firm?

http://deadlinedetroit.com/articles/...g_jail_problem
A good article by Jeff Wattrick over at Deadline Detroit. It will help you unravel the not-mystery of how Ficano used county funds to line the pockets of some friends. The entire fact that this plan went forward is stunning to me, but at least it looks like the end result will be not a jail and less taxpayer dollars spent to line the pockets of shady construction businesses.

[Detroitnerd]

Thanks, motz. That is shady as hell.

[compn]

so is the state attn general sitting out of this fiasco because the feds are snooping around? this is insanity.

but yeah having a jail downtown near the stadiums and casinos is a stupid waste of prime real estate.

[motz]

I don't know, honestly. And everything I've read, between Deadline's coverage and whatever else I can find, no one is looking into it... I would imagine with Ficano's top aide taking that plea bargain, the Feds are working on SOMETHING. I pray to god they are.

And that is the worst part, is that they built it in an area that could be absolutely prime development, right next to a district that is established, hardy as hell and s

[cramerro]

All the ties and shady deals are not new news. Mullin and Elder and also "

Mullin's former aide, Anthony Parlovecchio, left the county in February 2011 and was hired to ensure the jail project was on time and budget. The job was to pay him as much as $1.9 million; he was fired at Ficano's behest over concerns about a conflict of interest. He has sued the county."

The Feds are all over this, IMO.

The other point made about the contractor spending $100M and taking thier profits... you can be certain that nobody will be more upset, and litigious, than the construction firm and their subcontrators. $100M sounds great, but being paid the full $390M is quite a bit better. They will not let this go easily, and I'm pretty sure that Wayne County isn't going to be able to give or guaranty them the work at Mound Road given the intense spotlight on its operations these days.

I agree that this would be great, to take the jails, juvi, and third district court out and have Gilber develop them... that would be a huge project [[8-9 city blocks!!) even relative to all his other holdings and investments.

[Wesley Mouch]

Multiple Choice Question:

Which best spends the taxpayer's money?

1) Let government build the jail and run it

2) Let private industry be paid a fixed amount per prisoner, and build the jail and run it.