CLEVELAND, Ohio – A plot of undeveloped land in suburban Garfield Heights is on Cuyahoga County’s short list of sites for the future jail.
Multiple sources familiar with planning have confirmed to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that the site at Granger Road and Transportation Boulevard is among the main contenders being vetted to house a new county jail.
It’s not clear how many other sites are on that list. Sources have said there is at least one other property inside Cleveland city limits that is also being seriously discussed.
The county declined to comment on the Garfield Heights property or confirm which sites it has been considering, citing ongoing discussions with council and potential negotiations over purchasing property. But Executive Chris Ronayne did confirm in a news release Thursday that the search is narrowing.
“The selection process has narrowed from dozens of potential sites to a short list of appropriate sites that are being vetted in partnership with County Council,” the news release said.
County Council went into executive session during Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the “purchase or sale of property,” which sources confirmed was specifically related to jail property. Cleveland.com is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.
The Garfield Heights property was previously identified among the county’s top three picks for a jail site last year, when former County Executive Armond Budish was overseeing the selection process. It followed behind two other sites that some county officials preferred, but residents – and Ronayne – soundly rejected.
Those other two top contenders were industrial sites in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood, which sparked community protest, and at 2700 Transport Road, which was opposed based on concerns about whether it could be safely remediated, given toxins in the soil and groundwater.
That leaves the county’s third choice: a plot in Garfield Heights that has largely sat fallow since the start of the Great Recession in 2008. The county put it on the short list last year after the property owner offered it up for consideration as one of 28 potential jail locations then being vetted.
The parcels that make up the Garfield Heights site total 72 acres. Officials have indicated they’re interested in carving out at least 40.4 of those acres for the jail, which would move the facility 16 minutes outside of downtown Cleveland.
As of last year, the proposed sale price was said to be about $22 million.
According to property records, the land is owned by Craig Realty Group, a California-based outlet mall developer, which bought it in 2019 when the company officially took control of the failed Bridgeview Crossing project. It was once envisioned to be a $90 million office-and-retail project, anchored by JCPenney, Target and Lowe’s, but it lost financing during the recession and has sat undeveloped since.
The property was last appraised at $4.1 million, records show.
Though it wasn’t the front-runner last year, the Garfield Heights property did satisfy some of the criteria the county was using to narrow its search. It is over 40 acres – plenty to accommodate plans for a two-story jail, along with other potential buildings. It can be easily acquired, because the owner volunteered to sell it. And it is in close proximity to two major travel arteries in the county, I-480 and I-77.
There were also drawbacks.
Among the top contenders last year, the Garfield Heights property was the most expensive. At 11 miles out, it is the furthest site from downtown Cleveland, where the courthouse is expected to stay. And it was the least connected to public transportation. The area is currently served by two Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority bus lines and is a 45-minute ride from the nearest rail stop on East 55th Street, according to RTA’s trip planner.
It’s unclear how the county might reconcile those deficiencies. Ronayne previously criticized the Transport Road site, saying it wasn’t sufficiently accessible by public transportation. The property sits next to three rapid transit lines and two bus routes.
“It’s literally off the grid and in a hole,” Ronayne said of that property.
It’s also unclear what environmental cleanup, if any, may be required at the Garfield Heights property.
The site is just across the highway from the former City View Center, which was built atop a landfill. It was once anchored by Walmart, until its shifting foundation compromised the methane mitigation system and forced the business to close. Parts of the property have since been remediated and renamed Highland Park, now home to a Giant Eagle supermarket and Applebee’s restaurant.
Last year, the owner was seeking $10 million from the county in brownfield money to cap 20 acres of adjacent landfill and repair the damaged methane gas-extraction system beneath Highland Park to make the area suitable for development. The landfill, however, does not extend over to the proposed jail site.
Cleveland officials were previously apprehensive about proposals to relocate the jail to Garfield Heights, because it would mean a significant loss in income tax revenue and would place additional burdens on city police who would have to commute farther to drop off the people they arrest.
Cleveland Councilman Kerry McCormack, who supported use of the Transport Road site, said at the time that he wanted to keep the jail close to downtown, where it would be more accessible to Cleveland police officers, who make the majority of the arrests.
Prosecutors, judges, attorneys and other legal officials have also worried about the longer commutes when visiting clients or transporting defendants to court hearings.
Aside from location, other logistics for the new jail remain uncertain, including how big it will be and how the county plans to pay for it.
Ronayne previously floated the idea of renovating some part of the existing jail, while also building a smaller, expandable jail elsewhere in the county, but said Thursday that the county has rejected that idea. The county will be making “key, necessary physical updates” to the existing facility “so it can be operated safely” while it finalizes plans for a new jail.
Ronayne did not mention Thursday how he plans to pay for a new jail, which was previously estimated to cost up to $750 million. County Council already set aside $54 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars specifically for the jail, but much more is needed.
One method would be to issue bonds, backed by sales tax revenue that is currently being used to repay debt on the county-owned Global Center for Health Innovation and Hilton Hotel. That quarter-percent sales tax and debt is expiring in 2027. If the tax is extended, like Budish had proposed, the revenues could be used to pay for the jail. But Ronayne has said he would leave that choice to voters.
Final plans for a new jail and how to pay for it should be discussed with the public, Ronayne said at a March 2022 City Club event, “so we make a decision together.”