KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Construction plans are being prepared for a $20 million expansion to the Kalamazoo County Jail facility. 

Current plans call for a 79,400-square-foot, 250-bed expansion consisting of a new or renovated receiving and booking area, inmate medical care facility and area to store inmate property as well as a modified or expanded kitchen facility to feed a larger jail population than the current kitchen can accommodate.

Indiana-based design firm RQAW and Byce & Associates, an architectural firm with an office in Kalamazoo, are drafting designs and construction documents for the first stage of the CM managed expansion of the 327-bed jail.

Miller Davis Company was recently approved to act as construction manager for the project. 

The architects and engineers will also design a 20-year master plan for a 1,000-bed jail.

The project is not slated for construction until the middle of 2012 or later.