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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana University Public Policy Institute is analyzing proposed sites for a Marion County Criminal Justice Complex and may reveal its findings by the end of this week.
“The judges are constitutionally responsible for and very interested in good, individual accessibility for a new judicial center,” said Kathy Davis of Davis Design Group, who is working with judges to facilitate an analysis. Davis is a former lieutenant governor, state budget director and Indianapolis city controller.
Davis said the Public Policy Institute is evaluating various sites for a proposed criminal justice complex using what she termed a gravity study and a transportation study. The gravity study would weigh proposed sites in comparison to populations that most use criminal justice services. The transportation component would judge sites on the basis of accessibility for those with cars and those who use mass transit.
PPI will look at sites the city identified in a market analysis, Davis said. While city officials have said no site has been identified, the market analysis ranked an Indianapolis International Airport site along Washington Street east of Raceway Road as the preferred location.
Meanwhile, Indianapolis Director of Enterprise Development David Rosenberg on Friday briefed judges of the Marion Superior Executive Committee about the recently released short list of groups vying to build the facility.
Rosenberg said a presentation about the status of the complex proposal will be made to criminal judges at the next meeting of the Marion Superior Criminal Term at noon Thursday in the courtroom of Superior Judge Lisa Borges. Rosenberg said a proposed site could be announced by the end of the month.
The complex could cost several hundred million dollars, but backers including Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Marion County Sheriff John Layton say the facility could be funded by savings realized from consolidation and gained efficiencies. Current plans call for consolidation of criminal court and jail functions as well as related offices such as prosecutor, probation and public defender.
Groups on the short list to build the facility are:
— WMB Heartland Justice Partners, led by equity members Meridiam Infrastructure Indy Justice LLC, Balfour Beatty Investments Inc. and Walsh Investors LLC with major non-equity contributions by Walsh Construction Co. II LLC, Heery International Inc., Cofely Services Inc., Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP; and Dewberry Architects.
— Indy Justice Partners, led by equity members Fengate Capital Management Ltd., AECOM Global Fund I LP and Shiel Sexton Co. Inc., with major contributions by W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Tishman Construction Corp. and Johnson Controls. Frost Brown Todd LLC attorneys are non-equity members.
— Plenary Edgemoor Justice Partners, led by Plenary Group USA Ltd. and Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate LLC. Major non-equity members are Clark Construction Group LLC, F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co. Inc., HDR Architecture Inc. and CBRE. Krieg DeVault LLP is a non-equity member.
Those groups will be invited to submit a request for proposals that will further define each proposal. According to the city’s timeline for the project, RFPs will be due in the summer and a preferred group will be selected in September with a proposal submitted to the City-County Council.
Davis said the analysis came about quickly because the process is moving quickly.
“The judges are working hard to respond to the city’s schedule,” she said. "When the people with the project and the authority are on the fast track, the rest of us must respond accordingly.”
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