Michigan Courthouse and Jail Complex Showing Rapid Progress

By Lisa Kopochinski

WAYNE COUNTY, Mich.—With a completion date slated for third quarter 2022, five of the seven floors of the new Wayne County Courthouse and Jail complex have been completed in midtown Detroit. Steel recently went up for the courthouse and the first walls were erected for the new jail.

Located east of I-75 a couple of blocks north of Warren in Detroit, the new Wayne County Jail will replace the existing Frank Murphy Hall of Justice downtown, the adult jail, a juvenile detention facility, an administration building, and a utilities building. The site was part of a large Detroit Departments of Transportation bus maintenance complex that was partly demolished to make way for this justice center.

According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, the $533 million project includes five buildings in all. The buildings will create more than 1 million square feet of new space, plus 1,300 parking spaces. There will be more than 2,000 beds at the adult and juvenile detention centers. When fully operational, the center could see approximately 4,000 people on site on any given day.

Wayne County owns the complex, which is being developed by Rock Development LLC. The architect is HOK, the contractor is Barton Malow, and the owner’s representative is CGL.

The project is currently over budget, but officials told local media in December that the project will open on time.

Joe Guziewicz, who heads construction projects for Rock Development LCC, told reporters that “Dan Gilbert and Rock has guaranteed the project. We’ll be building this project.”