Construction continues on Kew Gardens jail
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Construction on the garage for Queens’ borough-based jail in Kew Gardens is nearly completed, according to the Department of Design and Construction. Photo courtesy of DDC
By Rachel Vick
The first phase of constructing the borough based jails is nearing completion in Kew Gardens.
Work on the parking garage adjacent to the planned Queens jail is on schedule, the Department of Design and Construction said last week. The parking garage will be the first structure built in the plan to bring a jail facility to Kew Gardens, and to neighborhoods throughout the city as part of the plan to shutter Rikers Island as a jail complex by 2027.
DDC highlighted the “significant” speed of the construction of the garage facility.
The garage project has also exceeded the goal of 30 percent participation from minority and women-owned businesses, according to DDC Spokesperson Ian Michaels.
The reason for the speed, according to Michaels, is the process by which the city contracted out the design and construction.
New York State gave the agencies permission to use the design-build method of contracting process for the first time in New York City, allowing teams of designers and builders to work side by side.
“It's the first project that DDC is completing using the design-build method of contracting,” Michaels told the Eagle. “Using design-build we’re going to complete this project about three years faster than we would have been able to using the old lowest bidder, design-bid-build contracting method.”
“We can actually start building before design is complete,” he added. “So far it's working very well and proving to be successful and if we can expand that… throughout city government, we can expect more projects with those time savings [in the future].”
The garage and community space were added in part as a response to requests form the community and City Council, in addition to a reduction in the building’s height.
Over the next week, work will be focused on the building that was once the Queens Detention Center, connecting the building to water ahead of dismantling the out-of-use facility after last week's work on the garage.
The large-scale deconstruction of the QDC is slated to begin at the end of the summer, with work to build an interim entrance for transport vehicles from Rikers and a bail payment center starting this week.
Once completed, the first phase will include flexible space for community use with a partial green roof and 600 public parking spots in the garage with solar panels. The jail next to Queens Criminal Court will have 886 beds and the city’s only women’s facility as part of the plan to close Rikers Island by 2027.
Proposals for the jail facility will be accepted in the second quarter of 2022, with design and construction running from mid-2023 through the end of 2027, according to the DDC timeline.
Similar facilities are planned for Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx as part of ongoing efforts from the city to create a less dysfunctional prison culture than currently exists on Rikers — currently facing scrutiny from the federal government — and to keep incarcerated individuals closer to their families while awaiting trial.
