City Scraps Plan For Massive Lower Manhattan Jail After Outrage

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — The city is axing a controversial plan to build a high-rise jail at 80 Centre St. in favor of expanding the existing Manhattan Detention Complex, officials with the Mayor's Office told Patch.

As part of the de Blasio administration's plan to shutter Rikers Island by 2027, the city wanted to erect a jail that could have risen up to 40 stories on the site of the city Marriage Bureau in Lower Manhattan, but because of the hefty costs to relocate the building's existing offices and after a wave of backlash from locals the city has decided to rebuild the existing Manhattan Detention Complex, commonly referred to as "The Tombs," at 125 White St. instead.

“We found that the challenges associated with relocating various offices at 80 Centre Street would make siting a jail there far more complicated and more costly than we originally anticipated," said Natalie Grybauskas, a spokeswoman with Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office.

"As we met with the community, it became clear that the original site we considered better addressed their needs without the costly challenges created by using 80 Centre, and we are reverting our site selection to the Manhattan Detention Complex.”

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The city initially aimed to expand The Tombs but in August stunned local leaders with the announcement that it was considering the 80 Centre St. site as an option for Manhattan's borough-based jail. The summer location change came after months of indicating that 125 White St. was the site for the new Manhattan facility, which is one of four jails planned for every borough except Staten Island.

Since settling on 80 Centre St., residents railed against the plan at a handful of meetings, drowning out city and elected officials with cries of "No jail" and packing hearings past capacity to voice their concerns.

The outdated Manhattan Detention Complex will need to be demolished and expanded from its capacity of 1000 to house some 1,500 detainees — the new facility could rise to a staggering 500 feet, a mayor spokesman said.

Lower Manhattan Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who was among the chorus of elected officials calling for the city to withdraw its plans for the 80 Centre St. site for more community input, praised the city for reconsidering the facility's location.

“The Administration’s proposal to reconsider siting the Manhattan Detention Complex at 125 White Street is a sign that the community’s concerns and input about the future of this facility matter," Chin said in a statement.

"By focusing the conversation on this existing detention site, we can ensure that this facility remains near the courts, and Columbus Park will no longer be placed under the shadow of a proposed 40-story jail at 80 Centre Street."

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer chided the city for not conducted thorough local outreach on the plan before proposing the 80 Centre St. site to begin with.

“The administration needed to change course on the location for the new facility, but the core problem here was that City Hall wanted to announce its plan before engaging with the community on how to craft it," Brewer said in a statement.

"I hope that in the coming weeks and months, City Hall will engage in a more bottom-up process that builds support in Chinatown and Lower Manhattan, makes people feel like they were actually heard, and improves the plan — instead of repeating the mistakes that got us here.”

Community group Neighbors United Below Canal, which formed in opposition to the 80 Centre St. project, echoed Brewer's complaints and urged the city to gather more community input on the new plan.

"We implore the Mayor to consult the community before selecting any site for any proposed jail," said attorney Nicholas Stabile, a co-founder of Neighbors United Below Canal and of the Park Row Alliance, which represents 1,500 residents between two housing complexes a short walk from the 80 Centre St. site and Manhattan Detention Complex.

The sudden change in direction for the new Manhattan jail is not expected to hold up the city's timeline for shuttering Rikers Island by 2027, but it will delay the certification and Uniform Land Use Review Procedure or ULURP review process for all four borough-based facilities by three months until approximately March, 2019, said a spokesman with the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

"That extra few months is going to be spent continuing community engagement," the spokesman said.

A conceptual design of the jail that was proposed for 80 Centre St. in Lower Manhattan. (Image courtesy of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office)