Former proposed ICE detention center site in Salt Lake now up for sale

SALT LAKE CITY — The site of what was to have been a federal immigrant detention center in Salt Lake City has been listed for sale, along with six other sites around the country that had also been proposed as Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.

Cushman and Wakefield, a national commercial real estate company, lists the Salt Lake City warehouse site at 6020 W. 300 South as available for purchase along with a site in Michigan, two locations in Georgia, two locations in Pennsylvania and a site in Texas. Cushman calls the package of locations — all former proposed immigration detention center sites — its Federal Warehouse Portfolio.

"Given the tenant demand for modern, high-quality bulk distribution buildings, the portfolio offers investors the rare opportunity to capture substantial value creation through the lease-up and stabilization of the properties," reads the Cushman website listing the seven sites. "The properties will be delivered free and clear of existing financing."

News of the listing of the Salt Lake City location comes in one of the latest filings in the pending federal lawsuit Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to halt the detention center plans here. News that federal officials had abandoned plans to convert the Salt Lake City warehouse building into a detention center first emerged in June, and the development was confirmed by federal officials in a filing in the lawsuit in August.

In the latest filing in the Utah case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead on Monday extended the deadline for submission of a status report on efforts to sell the 6020 W. 300 South building for 90 days, until Jan. 18. Monday had been the original deadline.

"Defendants shall not take any action to convert the Salt Lake facility into an immigration detention center during the stay," Pead wrote in the short filing. In suing the DHS, Salt Lake City and county officials had charged that federal officials didn't follow proper federal procedures in designating the proposed site at 6020 W. 300 South as a detention center.

The Salt Lake City location remains in federal hands, according to a joint filing in the lawsuit on Sunday by city, county and federal officials. But they didn't offer many other details.

"Defendants still intend to dispose of this property and do not intend to proceed with plans to convert it into a detention center. Since the stay was entered, defendants have taken necessary steps toward selling the property and the property is now listed on the Cushman and Wakefield website as soon being available for purchase," reads the filing.

ICE purchased the empty 883,000-square-foot warehouse on 300 South for $145.44 million in March for conversion into an immigrant detention center, part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. The plans sparked an uproar among immigrant advocates and protesting, as did similar proposals around the country, many since stalled.

The seven properties Cushman is selling contain 5.3 million square feet of space between them, and six were built since 2018. The other sites listed for sale, along with the Salt Lake City location, are:

• A warehouse in Romulus, Michigan, in the Detroit area. Acquisition of the site by ICE in February prompted a lawsuit by the city of Romulus against federal authorities, according to WDIV in Detroit.
• A warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia, southeast of Atlanta. City officials filed suit against the federal authorities over their plans last May, according to WXIA in Atlanta.
• A warehouse in Flowery Branch, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta, that the DHS bought for $68.16 million earlier this year, according to the news website, Access North Georgia.
• A 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse in Tremont Township, Pennsylvania, that the DHS bought for $119.5 million earlier this year, according to Fox 56, a television station.
• A 64-acre warehouse property in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, that ICE bought for $87 million last February, according to CBS News.
• Three warehouse properties in Socorro, Texas, that DHS bought for $122 million, according to KFOX 14.

Each property is offered for sale separately and the website doesn't provide asking prices. The call for offers on the Utah location hasn't yet been set. "The properties will be delivered free and clear of existing financing," the Cushman website reads.

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