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Cuyahoga County design team details Garfield site plan, favors 3-plus‑story configuration for new jail
Summary
Design team for Cuyahoga County's proposed jail at the Garfield site presented a refined massing that officials say balances security, operations and daylighting; stakeholders discussed tradeoffs between lower horizontal layouts and a three‑to‑four‑story building and confirmed the project remains sized for future expansion to 2,400 beds.
Cuyahoga County officials and the county's design team presented updated plans on Oct. 29 for a proposed detention center at the Garfield site, saying the design now centers on a lower‑rise building described by architects as effectively "three and a half stories" rather than a high‑rise.
The presentation, led by managing director Mark Applebaum of Project Management Consultants and Jeff Goodale of HOK, said the current schematic balances operational needs, daylighting and staff circulation while remaining below high‑rise thresholds. "It's 3 stories with additional structure above it," Goodale said, describing the configuration the team calls the project's "sweet spot."
Why it matters: the committee has repeatedly weighed whether to prioritize a highly vertical urban building or a lower, more sprawling campus. Designers said very low single‑story plans were impractical on cost and operations grounds, and fully high‑rise solutions (over the…
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