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| Jail for Sale, 55,000 Sqare feet |
| By Lisa A. Davis, Tampa Bay Online |
| Published: 06/01/2010 |
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NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco Sheriff Bob White joked with a group of reporters and photographers one recent afternoon that he wanted to show off his dungeon, but once inside the closed dimly-lit jail, his tone changed. White, now in his third term as the county';s top cop, sounded more like a Realtor trying to sell a not-so-prime piece of property. While it';s an older facility, he said, it boasts 55,000 square feet, "By the way, we';ll throw in a volleyball court, and we';ll throw in a basketball court," he said. Walking through the concrete and cold halls, he pointed out the facility';s features. "There';s just tons of steel here that can be sold," he said, pointing to doors, bars and storage boxes. "This structure is hurricane-proof," he said, almost giddy. "It would have to be an incredible storm to blow this down." What some people might see as a rundown old jail painted in shades of gray and green with spots of black graffiti, White just sees as green: Money. As he prepares to submit his budget proposal for next year to county commissioners Thursday , White has a proposal for them. Sell the jail, which is attached to his administrative offices in the government center at 8700 Citizen Drive, and use the money to put more deputies on the street. The one deputy per 1,000 residents he currently employs simply isn';t enough, he said. He said he thinks the county could fetch a pretty penny for the place - between $7 million and $10 million, but concedes it would have to take a visionary to snatch it up. If it sold, he';d likely move his offices to Land O'; Lakes and centralize other agency units at the same location. It';s just an idea, he said. "Without exploring it, who knows," White said. Last budget season, the sheriff had a big idea, too. Close the New Port Richey Jail, transfer the more than 200 inmates to the new addition of the Land O Lakes Jail and add some deputies and keep some equipment such as the helicopter, he faced losing. Commissioners liked the idea and the jail closed in November. The move saved the sheriff $4 million in operating costs and since then it';s sat empty and served no purpose except for storage. Initially, the thought was to reopen it when needed. White says that no longer makes sense. "It would be far more cost effective to never use this place again as a jail," he said. "This design is very inefficient. It takes more deputies to watch inmates than it does in Land O'; Lakes." Thus, he wants to sell. His proposal includes preparing the facility for sale and he would like to use inmate labor to nearly gut the place. He says the small concrete cells would that have little more than slits for windows would be a much better alternative to today';s corporate use of cubicles. And each pod ¬ which consists of a sleeping area, bathroom facilities and recreation room, could be transformed into their own offices someone could rent out. "They all have outside exposure so they can all have an entryway built into them," said White turned Realtor again. His voice echoes in the near empty space. Equipment still lying around such as the commercial grade kitchen equipment would be moved over to the Land O ';Lakes Jail, he said. But in general he thinks it';s a gem for someone who more than anything is looking for "location, location, location" so loved in the real estate world. He concedes that sometimes building new is cheaper than renovating but he stresses the old jail has construction quality that is needed in Florida and can';t be bought on the cheap. "To build a building as hardened as this, it';s going to cost quite a bit of money," he said. Read More. |
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