TOLEDO, Ohio — The site for the new Lucas County jail in downtown Toledo is ready for construction, according to Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken.
The new building will be built at the 1819 Canton St. site, Gerken confirmed, but officials are in no rush to get it done at a high cost.
"The cost estimate came back too high. We were shocked," Gerken said. "From our groundbreaking time, we said $220 million and then we went back to work and started designing and engineering. It and came back at $290 (million) plus interest rates were at 5%."
So, he said that together with the building engineers and the sheriff, plans were made to cut back on things like an underground parking garage and the number of backup generators.
However, Gerken said those cuts still did not add up and that waiting to build didn't sound like as much of a bad idea. It also isn't a new idea across the state, since Gerken said many Ohio counties take years to build a new jail.
"Franklin County took them 10 years to build their jail and they used a sales tax increase to do it. We're not doing that," Gerken said. "Cuyahoga (County) is in their eighth year. They've just now arrived at a site."
Gerken added that Lucas County is on the right track, with the site and the plan in place, now the funding just has to make sense. The only way for it to happen, he said, is to wait.
"I believe interest rates are going to come down twice. I think, that's not just 'Pete Gerken,' that's industry talk. Probably in September and maybe again in January," Gerken said. "It would be foolish for the county to take on its biggest project, at its highest costs, at its highest interest rate, and build the most expensive project we've ever had."
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