Correctional Facilities
NYC to Reissue RFQ for Manhattan Jail Following Construction Market Changes
A contractor is dismantling the Manhattan Detention Complex as part of plans to build a new jail on the same site.
Photo courtesy of New York City Dept. of Design and Construction
New York City officials seeking more competition for a design-build project to construct a jail in Manhattan plan to reissue a request for qualifications for the work. The project is part of the city’s multibillion-dollar Borough-Based Jails Program, which would eventually replace the Rikers Island facility with four modern new jails in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
The NYC Dept. of Design and Construction now expects to issue a new RFQ for the Manhattan jail project in September, according to a notice of intent released Aug. 14. It would then issue a request for proposals to as many as three shortlisted contractors in early 2024 and evaluate responses with a best-value selection considering design, quality, past performance and qualifications.
The Manhattan facility design is planned for 886 beds and 135 accessory parking spaces below grade for Department of Correction staff and 20,000 sq ft of community and commercial space, according to NYC, a Roadmap to Closing Rikers. It will rise at the site of the current Manhattan Detention Complex and will include space that accomodates on-site services and programming, recreation, food services, staff offices and a secured entry.
Officials previously sought qualifications for the project in early 2021, and had earlier issued an RFQ for contractors that would have also dismantled the existing facility on the site—work that has now been broken out under a separate contract. DDC noted that the construction market has changed and the COVID-19 pandemic has eased since it issued the prior RFQ. Thomas Foley, DDC commissioner, said in a statement that the department has heard feedback from industry partners who would like the opportunity to participate in the work.
“There have been numerous developments in the construction market, in the overall economy and in the Borough-Based Jails Program since we started the process,” Foley said.
DDC said in an announcement that the renewal will allow city officials to re-engage with members of the community on design guidelines including the building’s exterior, streetscape and public areas.
The city will also require “significant” participation by minority- and women-owned businesses, according to the announcement.
DDC is working with the Dept. of Correction, Correctional Health Services and Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice on the Borough-Based Jails Program, which officials have most recently publicly valued at a cost of $8.9 billion. The design-build contract for the first of the four planned jails, awarded in May to Tutor Perini Corp. for the Brooklyn project, accounts for about a third of that figure with a $2.95-billion value.
DDC has also awarded a $59.8-million contract to Northstar Contracting Group Inc. for dismantling of an existing facility at the Brooklyn site, a $76.7-million contract to Yonkers Contracting Co. Inc. for site prep in the Bronx, and two contracts totaling about $123.2 million for dismantling of an existing facility at the Queens site and construction of a parking garage that would sit adjacent to the future jail. Dismantling of an old jail nicknamed “The Tombs” at the Manhattan site is also underway via a $125.2-million contract with Gramercy Group Inc.
