One hurdle remains for Wayne County to take control of new criminal justice complex

Detroit — Wayne County has not yet taken control of its new criminal justice complex because county officials are still learning how to operate the state-of-the-art facility that will house the jail, courts, juvenile detention center and sheriff's office, county officials said Thursday.

The learning curve means yet another delay in the county's years-long quest to complete a new criminal justice center. Construction of the facility is now essentially finished but until county officials feel safe on how to run the complex, it won't take official control.

Last month, county officials said it hoped to have taken control of the facility from developer Bedrock Detroit by the end of January. On Thursday, county officials didn't give a firm target date of when the facility will be turned over to the county.

"The largest hurdle that we have right now relates to an extensive library of operation and maintenance manuals that are required by the terms of the development agreement," with Bedrock Detroit, said James Heath, Wayne County corporation counsel. He spoke during a Thursday committee meeting of the Wayne County Commission.

The county is still working with developer Bedrock Detroit, who oversaw construction of the facility, and general contractor Barton Malow, to learn extensive manuals that show county officials how to operate the wide range of systems in the facility. In some cases, Bedrock is still finalizing some of the operating manuals, Heath said.

The extensive manuals are "ultimately for making sure that the building works properly and that any emergencies are handled properly," Heath added. He cited an example of one manual for one building system being more than 1,500 pages.

"Information I received from Bedrock was that they hoped to have all of these manuals complete by the end of this month," Heath said.

The manuals are vital to ensure the safety of facility, said James Carter Fisher, assistant corporation counsel, during Thursday's commission meeting.

"If there's a fire, if there's a flood, things like that, the folks who are operating the building need to know what to do in an emergency other than just call 911. How do we shut off the HVAC system so that the fire doesn't spread?" Fisher said.

The criminal justice complex is the heart of a 2018 deal between the county and Bedrock, the Detroit real estate arm for billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures. Bedrock is overseeing construction of the facility in exchange for gaining ownership of the various downtown sites where the current jail and other county facilities are located. Bedrock intends to develop those sites.

The facility will house multiple county departments, including a 2,280-bed jail, along with offices for the Wayne County sheriff, prosecutor staff and administrative offices. It also will include a criminal courthouse and juvenile detention facility. It is located on city's east side near Interstate 75 and East Warren Avenue.

The project has faced years of delays, including a first failed attempt at building a new jail near Greektown in 2011.

Once the county takes control of the facility, it has up to six months to move virtually it's entire criminal justice system into the new complex.

laguilar@detroitnews.com