Jackson County Announces Plans to Sell City Block, Including Former Jackson County Jail

Posted October 27, 2026

Jackson County announced it is planning to sell a city block between Locust and Cherry Streets by means of a competitive bidding process.

Located between Locust and Cherry Streets and 13th and 14th Streets, the site includes the former Jackson County Detention Center and several surrounding County-owned buildings.

With the opening of the new Jackson County Detention Center, the County has determined that it no longer needs the downtown property for operations, according to a Jackson County release on Monday.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to reimagine nearly an entire city block in the heart of downtown Kansas City,” said Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota. “We’re talking about a significant piece of downtown real estate with tremendous potential. Our goal is to attract competitive proposals that maximize the return for Jackson County taxpayers while creating an opportunity for this property to become a valuable part of downtown’s future.”

The county is hoping to use its bidding process to maximise the value of the taxpayer-owned asset as well as provide an opportunity to return the property to productive use. County employees are still working out of buildings on the block, however, plans are underway to relocate those operations to other facilities.

Any sale will be conducted in accordance with the Jackson County Code and the County’s established public bidding requirements.

Bids must be submitted by November 24.