Dormitory Authority Plans $150M Youth Detention Facility in Valhalla
ALBANY—The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York issued a request for proposals (RFP) on April 10 to provide construction management services for the design, construction and administration of a new “Secure/Specialized Secure Youth Detention Facility” at the Grasslands complex in Valhalla, NY.
The project entitled “Westchester County – Raise the Age (RTA) – New Specialized Secure Youth Detention Facility Project” is located on the grounds of the existing Woodfield Cottage Facility located at 20 Hammond House Road. The new facility will contain a maximum of 80 beds for juveniles. The Dormitory Authority states that the design of the new juvenile correctional facility shall “encourage rehabilitation by focusing on juvenile correctional facility design principles that are restorative, such as daylighting and calming acoustics, which create spaces in which young people can thrive.”
Responses to the RFP are due by May 9 at 3 p.m. Westchester County sends overflow adolescent offenders to other state facilities that can provide the appropriate housing. With the state’s support, Westchester County has been granted considerations to design and build a new facility on the grounds of its existing Woodfield Cottage Facility, the Dormitory Authority wrote in the RFP.
The new three-story building will total 120,532 sq/ft, built on a 2.5-acre parcel of county-owned land on the Grasslands campus. The RFP documents state that the project construction budget is $150 million.
The Dormitory Authority noted in the RFP documents that the existing Woodfield Cottage facility will remain in full operation during construction of the new youth detention building. Once the new facility is complete, youth will be transferred to the new building and demolition of the old building will begin. Once demolition is complete outdoor recreation facilities and a parking lot will be constructed for the new facility.
A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams on April 23, 2025, at 1:00 pm. Attendance is strongly encouraged. According to the project timeline, an award for construction management services is scheduled for June 4, 2025. The construction manager will not be eligible to be on the Design/Build team for the construction of the project.
The remainder of the project timeline calls for the Design-Build Procurement by June 2026, with the substantial completion of all work involving the construction of the new building, the demolition of the existing facility and site work by January 2030.
Published: April 16, 2025