ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) --The Allen County Commissioners Friday approved the sale of revenue bonds to build the Allen County Jail. The bonds, estimated to amount to $200 million, will be sold Nov. 13 with the closing date Nov. 16. Investors are expected to be large financial institutions and the bonds will be issued in multi-million dollar denominations, according to Chris Cloud, commissioners’ chief of staff. The total cost of the project was recently estimated at $316 million, including soft costs. But the total cost is “significantly less” than what the commissioners originally thought because the bids came in much lower, Commissioner Nelson Peters told WANE 15 Friday. “I do know that the rules call for not overselling bonds on the project, so the amount of bonds that are sold will come in right around whatever the cost of the project, minus cash, minus bids have come to at this particular point,” Peters said. The cost of the project will be paid by the revenue bonds, a $50 cash infusion from the county, plus another $5.6 million later on. Two and a half years ago, a federal judge ordered the county to make changes to the jail deemed inhumane because of overcrowding and understaffing. In the time allotted to come up with a plan, the commissioners realized a new jail was needed. With legal delays throwing up roadblocks, Weigand Construction, the construction manager, marshaled resources to be ready once court proceedings were resolved. In October, Weigand had trucks hauling dirt off the site in the 3000 block of Meyer Road with plans to pour concrete this month. Commissioners now believe that the 1,300-bed facility will be completed in the fall of 2027, only a few months later than originally planned. In order to finance the project, the county first had to put up the Allen County Courthouse as collateral, creating the Allen County Indiana Building Corporation as a kind of holding company. The commissioners hired two appraisers with experience in historic landmarks to appraise the courthouse whose estimated value is believed to be around $40 million, according to county attorney, Laura Maser, present at the commissioners’ meeting. The appraisers are John M. Thistlethwaite and Integra Realty Resources. “Before you can issue bonds, you have to make sure that what is backing the bonds- in this case the real estate that Allen County owns - is actually sufficient to support those bonds,” Peters explained. To see the bond offering, click on Deal — MuniPlatform.