POLITICS

Justice complex cost could exceed $500M, study says

By Jon Murray
jon.murray@indystar.com

A planned Marion County criminal justice complex could cost upwards of $500 million to build if a 2-year-old private study is any guide.

That would make the new government complex nearly as costly as another professional sports stadium.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Marion County officials on Wednesday avoided specifying the potential construction costs when they outlined plans to move the county’s criminal courts, jails and other justice agencies to a single 35-acre site. They said they still were looking at potential locations outside Downtown, with a goal of opening the complex in 2018.

The city soon will seek a long-term deal with a private development partner to build and operate the new complex. Ballard said such an arrangement would avert any tax increase.

But when it came to building costs, the officials hesitated to provide estimates.

Ballard and his advisers said they would leave cost calculations to negotiations with the private sector, and the mayor said only that $300 million to $400 million was “in the ballpark.”

However, a previously unreleased draft study commissioned a few years ago by the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, the host of the announcement, suggests that the cost could go even higher.

That study’s construction estimates ranged from $520 million to $631 million.

At the low end was a facility outside Downtown, but within 2 miles of Monument Circle, that would occupy a broad footprint. The larger figure was for a high-rise justice complex squeezed into Downtown.

On Wednesday, Ballard, Sheriff John Layton and Marion Superior Court Presiding Judge David Certo outlined plans for a facility outside Downtown, putting the scope more in line with the GIPC study’s less expensive estimate.

Planners have discussed old industrial sites as well as the site of the old Indianapolis International Airport terminal.

GIPC had declined to release the draft study, which wasn’t finalized. But The Indianapolis Star obtained the GIPC report from the mayor’s office.

Compiled by a task force, the draft report looks at consolidating a set of county services that’s similar to those identified by Ballard.

Marc Lotter, Ballard’s spokesman, declined to comment on the GIPC study’s estimates, which are higher than any officials have discussed publicly. But he didn’t dispute them.

The justice complex announcement provided a rare moment of bipartisan harmony between the Republican mayor and the Democratic sheriff, who have battled over budget issues.

Speaking to the quarterly board meeting of GIPC’s movers and shakers, they and Certo, the presiding judge, said the plan is the culmination of decades of calls from local officials for a consolidated justice center because of security concerns in the City-County Building.

“The current situation, especially in our criminal courts, has been an imposition on the community — primarily because of our safety needs,” Certo said. “We want to make sure Marion County has a world-class public safety facility so that citizens and jurors and witnesses and judges (and defendants) ... can get access to justice and do it in a safe facility.”

Here’s a look at emerging details of the plan:

What will the complex include?

Officials envision a 3,400-bed jail, 25 to 30 criminal courtrooms and a juvenile lockup. The complex also would accommodate prosecutors and public defenders, community corrections, the Sheriff’s Office, probation, other county justice agencies and possibly some state and federal offices.

Who will pay for the project?

Ballard and Layton took pains to say the city could build the justice complex without raising taxes by drawing on cost savings and new income produced by the project.

The most likely way to finance the project, officials say, is a public-private partnership in which industry players would front construction costs and operate the facility for decades. The city would make annual lease payments to repay the costs. The Star reported on that part of the plan earlier this week.

What are possible cost savings?

One example cited is that the sheriff now employs extra deputies to oversee a main jail with an outdated design and to transport inmates to court. Those needs could be reduced by better jail design and the use of videoconferencing for initial hearings.

Layton said that if the jail is near the airport, it might be able to attract significant income by serving as a connection point for federal prisoners being transported across the country.

Where will the complex go?

The old airport has gained favor among some backers of the plan, but they’ve also discussed vacant industrial sites, including the closed GM Stamping Plant west of Downtown.

Several judges who support a new justice complex nonetheless are voicing firm opposition to the possible airport site because of accessibility concerns for bus riders and others. They want a site closer to Downtown.

Who will build the complex?

The city soon will seek bid teams. Already, large companies are interested, including Miami-based CGL; Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corp. of America; and Los Angeles-based AECOM.

Local architects, design firms and construction companies also are beginning to line up with teams.

What’s the timeline?

City officials plan to issue a solicitation for bid teams (called a Request for Qualifications) on Dec. 20.

The city’s timeline calls for evaluating responses beginning in February, making a final selection in September and then introducing a firm proposal in the City-County Council about the same time. The process also could include a formal request for competing proposals from bid finalists.

Construction could begin in early 2015, with the new criminal justice complex opening in 2018.

Call Star reporter Jon Murray at (317) 444-2752. Follow him on Twitter: @IndyJonMurray.