OREGON – The Ogle County Board last week got its first look at the renderings and budget for the new jail to be built in downtown Oregon.
Representatives from HOK Architects and Gilbane Building Company presented a jail schematic design to the board on July 17 that came with a price tag of almost $27 million. That is slightly higher than the estimated $25 million the board had thought the project would cost.
The new jail will be built on county-owned land just west of the Judicial Center and would house between 180 to 200 prisoners.
Kim Gouker, chairman of the Ogle County Board, said the costs are in line with earlier estimate, but could come down as this was just the schematic, which the board did accept.
“It just roughly says this is where all the rooms are going to be,” he said of the accepted document.
The next phase will be design and development, which Gouker said includes all of the minute details that will go into the building. He said that is where the county will get a better handle on the costs.
Gouker said the hope is that the County Board will have a design in hand by this fall. If that is accepted, the next phase will be the creation of construction documents and a bid package.
He said the county hopes to bid the project out by December or January.
The timing is important because the county hopes to break ground on the project by April. Gouker said it will take 18-20 months for the construction, with a projected opening of the new jail in the fall of 2020.
