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Hall County finalizes jail sale to Gainesville
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The Hall County Board of Commissioners gave final approval Thursday to sell the old county jail on Main Street to the city of Gainesville for $7.2 million.The agreement finally puts to rest, at least for now, a four-month discussion over the future of the midtown Gainesville jail.The city will ultimately own the midtown jail, which it hopes to eventually demolish. But in the meantime the detention center will continue to house detainees of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement under the operation of Corrections Corp. of America. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office will also continue to occupy an office out of the jail for at least five years.In the end, it took agreements between federal, county and city officials, as well as from a private jailer, to resolve the issue.“For all of the things that have been said about the city and county not being able to work together, this is probably the first win-win-win I’ve seen since I’ve been on the board,” said Commissioner Ashley Bell.The city’s interests in buying the old jail sprang into action in March, when the county was moving toward selling the property at 622 Main St. to CCA, also for $7.2 million.CCA has leased the midtown Gainesville building since 2008 to house ICE detainees.