More than a year after deciding to greatly scale back the new Family Center for Juvenile Justice, Tulsa County selected Monday a $28.8 million bid to build it.
"The award is going to Crossland Construction, and it really came in at a point where we — I feel strongly we’re going to get this thing done and done right," said County Commissioner Karen Keith.
The county spent more than $5.5 million to buy the old Storey Wrecker site downtown, then got an estimate of more than $80 million for its initial plans, far more than the roughly $45 million maximum budget covered by a dedicated sales tax.
"We’re getting all the programming that we had scheduled originally and we just did a lot of value engineering, but it’s going to be a great facility," Keith said. "You know, and of course it’s going to be leaps and bounds above what we had, but it’s going to be well done."
The new juvenile justice center at roughly Elwood and Archer will replace the one at 315 S Gilcrease Museum Road. Tulsa County commissioners decided more than a year ago to go back to the drawing board on the plans, and Keith has championed the project for longer than that.
"Well, I’m absolutely delighted, but I will tell you I feel horrible that it’s taken this long. But, we’re going to get it moving. The other thing about this bid is they’re going to bring it in four months earlier, maybe five months earlier than what we expected," Keith said.
The new Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice is expected to open next summer.
