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Liberty County reviews site, phased design and rough $107M estimate for proposed new jail
Summary
Architects presented a phased plan that begins with a 408-bed core and support facilities, expandable to 600'+ beds; rough construction estimates ranged about $263,000'$272,000 per bed, with a 12'14 month design period and ~30 months construction after procurement.
Liberty County commissioners discussed early-stage programming and conceptual design for a proposed new county jail to be sited behind the existing sheriff's office and annex. The meeting focused on layout options, a phased construction approach and preliminary cost and schedule assumptions rather than a final procurement decision.
The project team described the site as roughly 70 acres and proposed building a full set of support functions (kitchen, laundry, visitation, intake/booking, medical) once so housing capacity can be added in phases. The core starter plan the design team showed — the "orange" phase — would provide 408 beds with about 83,000 square feet of support and housing space; adding a second phase (pink) would add about 92 beds and a third phase (blue) would bring the facility to roughly 816 beds.
On cost, the designer gave a preliminary per-bed construction figure and a ballpark estimate for the starter phase: "probably somewhere around 263,000 to $272,000 a bed," which produces a rough construction-only total in the vicinity of $107 million for 408 beds before adding soft costs such as architecture/engineering, contingency and certain administrative furniture and IT. The designer recommended planning for an additional 10 percent to cover soft costs during budgeting.
Commissioners discussed financing approaches, including general-obligation bonds and certificates of obligation, and asked for fiscal guardrails; staff noted the county has roughly $78 million in available discretionary revenue this year and that any debt decision needs to be matched to the life of the building. The project team recommended using a construction-manager-at-risk procurement and starting the process promptly; the team estimated 12 to 14 months for schematic and design development and about 30 months for construction after bids and award if the county authorized work early in 2025.
Operational implications were raised by the sheriff's office, which noted Liberty County currently pays roughly $2 million a year to house jailed people out of county and that an in-county facility could reduce those annual costs depending on staffing and utilization. The design team provided a staffing-order-of-magnitude for indirect supervision operations (an estimated minimum staffing complement in the low double digits per shift for a 408-bed facility) and suggested the county consider phasing to match both capital and operating capacity.
No procurement vote was taken at the workshop. Commissioners asked staff and the design team to refine budgets, explore financing strategies and return with more detailed numbers in the coming months.
