The official groundbreaking ceremony for the prison at Point MacKenzie is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Work has already begun on the site. The construction company chosen for the building is Neeser Construction. 

The Borough sold 240 million dollars in bonds to pay for the project which will be 430 thousand square foot facility, able to hold over 15 hundred prisoners.  The borough estimates the prison will provide between 600 and 700 jobs during the construction phase and 350 permanent jobs when the facility is operating.  Neeser is estimating about 25 to 30 carpenters and 15 to 20 laborers working for them during the busiest part of the construction phase.  They plan to hire Borough residents.The Borough also estimates that some 262 additional houses will be needed for employee families.

The Department of Corrections hopes to have inmates housed in the facility by February or March of 2012.  

The correctional center site is nine miles from the dock at Port MacKenzie.