New York Daily News

New jail eyed for downtown

- BY GREG B. SMITH, REUVEN BLAU

A towering new jail may soon be part of the Lower Manhattan landscape, the Daily News has learned.

The de Blasio administra­tion is eyeing 80 Centre St. – now home to the city’s marriage bureau – as the perfect location for a highrise detention center as part of a sweeping plan to close Rikers Island.

The plan was unveiled by mayoral aides at a hushhush meeting with community leaders Thursday.

The block-long building adjacent to Foley Square would be totally gutted, sources said. The historic nine-story art-deco structure would serve as a base for a much bigger building that could reach 40 stories, according to sources.

The Mayor’s office confirmed to The News that it’s serious about using the site.

“We are considerin­g two potential options for a facility in Manhattan as part of our plan to close Rikers Island, and are engaging with the community to gather input,” said mayoral spokeswoma­n Natalie Grybauskas.

She declined to share the Power Point presentati­on given by aides at the meeting Thursday or detail any other parts of the plan.

The new jail may also include affordable housing apartments, according to community leaders who were briefed on the proposal.

The 80 Centre St. building is a change-up from the city’s prior plan to expand its existing lower Manhattan jail, the Manhattan Detention Complex, also known as The Tombs.

But jail officials have now determined the complex on 125 White St. is too small.

“They have a problem,” said former Correction Commission­er Martin Horn. “The buildings that they want to design will have difficulty fitting into the zoning envelopes of the existing jails.”

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