The 464-bed minimum security detention facility was completed in September 2007, built with $27.4 million in high interest revenue bonds issued by the city's new industrial development corporation, the Two Rivers Port Authority (TRA)[REF] and sold by bond brokers Municipal Capital Markets and Herbert J. Sims.
The facility was promoted by a consortium of mostly Texan bond brokers, builders (Hale-Mills construction), architects (James Parkey/Corplan) and operators (Emerald Corrections), despite an initial economic feasibility analysis that concluded it would not be a viable project, and despite substantial legislative obstacles [REF].