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The property that will house the eventual new Escambia County Detention Facility has been purchased.

Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson said Monday that some two weeks ago, the county closed on a 177-acre piece of property.

“We’ve been looking for a lpace to put a new facility,” Jackson said. “I located some property I thoguht would be suitabled.”

Jackson said the county talked with the property owners, and had an architect take a look at the site.

Jackson added that the architect noted that it was suitable for the new facility.

“We made an offer on it, and closed on it two weeks ago,” he said.

Jackson said the property is located on the backside of the Brewton Industrial Park.

“It fits where we needed it to be,” he said.

Jackson said the property isn’t a part of the park, and will be out of site and mind.

Esambia County Administrator Tony Sanks said the property was purchased through the county’s capital projects fund.

When asked if they could extend off of the current detention center, Jackson said they couldn’t build off of the front because of the flood zone and everything else is land locked.

Jackson said the next step is to figure out a way to build a jail without costing the tax payers a “pile of money.”