DETROIT (WWJ) -- Only days remain until Wayne County takes over its new criminal justice complex — including a long-delayed new jail — in downtown Detroit.
Corporation Counsel James Heath says Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures will allow the county to start moving in by the end of the month, and things are moving quickly.
"We're very happy with the progress that has been taking place. And we have turned the bulk of our attention to issues related to turnover and move in," Heath said Thursday.
"We are ready to put our plan into action, and we are extremely confident that this thing will go as efficiently and smoothly as humanly possible," he said.
Rock Ventures built the new facility in exchange for several other properties downtown.
The complex, near I-75 and East Warren, will have a 2,200 bed jail as well as offices for the Wayne County Sheriff and Prosecutor's Office.
The complex is expected to open in the next six months, officials said.
This comes after county officials in 2017 announced that a 2,000-bed jail that sat half-finished on Gratiot Ave. near Greektown would not be completed.
Construction on that facility stopped in June of 2013 because the project was wildly over budget, with cost overruns totaling more than $90 million, leaving the what some have called the "fail jail" to stand as an eyesore in the city.
Demolition of the half-finished jail began the following year, with future plans by Bedrock said to include an "innovation district" at the Gratiot site.
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