CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County’s preferred location for a new jail has been mired in controversy over whether toxic conditions can be remediated for safe use, but county officials say it’s the only property that meets all their criteria.
The county’s Public Works Director Michael Dever recently explained how the county reached that conclusion. In a presentation at council’s Sept. 22 Committee of the Whole meeting, he showed what officials were looking for in a new jail site and how they narrowed their options down to one: 2700 Transport Road.
The search started in October 2020.
The county first mapped every property over 25 acres, removing any sites deemed impossible to purchase, such as parks, cemeteries, churches or schools. The search turned up “massive amounts of parcels,” Dever said, which the county’s first real estate consultant, Allegro Real Estate Brokers & Advisors, whittled to a list of 28.
The county’s second real estate consultant, CBRE, then used the pre-approved selection criteria to shrink the list further.
That checklist, approved by the 12-member Justice Center Executive Steering Committee helping to guide decisions about the new jail, considered:
- Size, which increased from a minimum of 25 acres to 40 acres in order to accommodate a low-rise facility
- Time and distance to the courthouse, which is expected to remain downtown
- Proximity to hospitals, emergency services, and highways
- Access to public transportation
- Environmental risks
- Ease of acquisition, including potential relocation of existing owners
- Development options
- Cost
“A lot of those sites were collections of multiple parcels, a lot of residential,” Ryan Jeffers with CBRE told council. “Properties that were not truly available for sale, and that list of 28 really narrowed very, very fast.”
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
It narrowed to 10 sites, Dever said.
Most were identified only by vague names. They were Transport Road, the Cuyahoga Valley Industrial Center in Slavic Village, Orange Village, Central and Cedar Avenues, E. 82nd and St. Clair, W 130th St., Woodland, Northern Lakes, Superior Avenue, and the former Ford Motor Co. site in Brook Park.
“Certain sites started popping and becoming the more logical site,” Dever said.
Five of them were recommended and further vetted.
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
The Central/Cedar site was 47 acres and estimated to cost between $3.7 to $5 million, but it consisted of “too many parcels” and was located near residential housing, Dever said. Cleveland also opposed the option, saying it has other uses for the area, he said.
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
The Northern Lakes property off E. 140th St. was a total 40 acres for an estimated $5.1 to $6.5 million, but it was split between two parcels that are separated by a road. It was also located near residential housing and was the farthest from the courthouse, Dever said.
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
The Woodland plot at E. 50th and Woodland Avenue was 34 acres with an estimated cost of $5.5 to $8.5 million, but it also sits near residential housing, had 10 separate owners and came under contract just as the county began its search, Dever said.
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
The Slavic Village site offered 39 acres for an estimated purchase price of $6.8 to $7.1 million, but it was later ruled out as a jail location following community opposition.
Slides from a presentation Public Works Director Michael Dever gave to Cuyahoga County Council on Sept. 22, 2022, show how the county narrowed its search for a jail site to its preferred location at 2700 Transport Road.(Cuyahoga County)
That left the Transport Road site.
“Based upon the criteria that we were asked to work with...I know of no other sites that would fit that criteria in Cuyahoga County,” Jeffers said.
The property is owned by UTS Realty, LLC, and comprises three parcels totaling over 44 acres. The purchase price was then estimated to cost between $6.7 million and $11.1 million, which is close to the appraised value of $12 million.
Today, that price has increased to $20 million, which includes funding to help Universal Intermodel relocate and rebuild its shipping container yard at a new site, potentially at the CVIC property in Slavic Village.
The county also allowed property owners to recommend their own sites, which produced a sixth option in Garfield Heights. It was 40.4 acres but was located 11 miles from downtown and expected to cost roughly $22 million.
“Ultimately, we decided that the 2700 Transport Road site was the ideal location for a new jail,” Dever said, touting its proximity to the Justice Center and public transportation off the Tri-C – Campus District station.
“There is environmental challenges at this site,” Dever continued, but he said the county has “a very clear plan, we’ve done our due diligence, we feel very confident” about how to remediate the property to mitigate health risks.
The county’s environmental consultant has laid out those plans at several public meetings. They include groundwater restrictions, a clean soil cap, and installing a vapor mitigation system to prevent methane and benzene gases from collecting inside the jail.
The Justice Center Executive Steering Committee will meet Tuesday to discuss the environmental conditions and remediation options and vote on whether it is an “acceptable” location for the jail. Their recommendation is supposed to help inform Cuyahoga County Council’s final decision to buy the property or not.
Council is expected to vote on the property in October and could also choose to extend the quarter-percent sales tax to pay for a new jail. Both candidates vying to be the county’s next executive recently asked them to abandon the location and pause jail planning.