It's huge news. Zanesville isn't the only area that could boom with new jobs - similar announcements have been made from Wheeling to Weirton to Youngstown. The natural gas drilling boom is the best thing that has happened in terms of employment in decades.

A $200 million addition to the Genesis Medical Center broke ground in May.  It has a scheduled completion date of 2015.  Below is a link to an article about the groundbreaking from the Zanesville Times Recorder, a link to a fact sheet about the addition from Genesis and a link to a series of exterior and interior renderings of the new addition from Genesis:

 

Zanesville Times Recorder: Genesis conducts groundbreaking for expanding facility

 

• New Genesis Medical Center Fact Sheet

 

• Renderings of the New Genesis Medical Center

 

The existing main hospital building at the Genesis Medical Center is to the right in the above rendering.

The $200 million addition is to the left of the main hospital building

Ooooh, I remember what I said about this before the board crash --

 

You know what they said back in the '90s, "Genesis does what Nintendon't!"

Catching up on the $200 million Genesis Medical Center project in Zanesville.  Here's an overview of the project from this 2012 article in Columbus Business First:

 

Zanesville's Genesis HealthCare system building to compete

 

That $200 million construction project finished up in 2015.  More about that from the Zanesville Times-Recorder at the below link.  The link also includes a lengthy timeline to goes back to 1997, when Good Samaritan and Bethesda hospitals merged into Genesis HealthCare:

 

Genesis Hospital opening soon after 18 years

 

Here is a view of Bethesda Hospital before the most recent additions:

 

Here is a view after the most additions into the Genesis Hospital campus:

 

Here is another view after the most additions into the Genesis Hospital campus:

Here is an aerial view of the former Good Samaritan campus in Zanesville:

 

The Good Samaritan campus started adjacent to a residential neighborhood and slowly expanded into that neighborhood.  The newer Bethesda, located two miles north, was a greenfield development that had room to expand.  Because of this, the merged Genesis HealthCare organization decided to expand at the Bethesda location.

 

The Good Samaritan campus will have many of its services phased out after the new Genesis Hospital additions are completed.  The five-story former in-patient hospital building on the site will be demolished sometime in the future.  The Zanesville Times-Recorder ran a series of articles about the history of the Good Samaritan campus:

 

-- Going down in history: A look back at Good Samaritan

 

-- Photo Gallery: A historic look at Good Samaritan Hospital

 

-- Future of Good Samaritan property is uncertain

YouTube posting by Genesis HealthCare of the new Genesis Hospital complex in Zanesville:

 

^^ The demolition of the Good Samaritan Hospital buildings began last month, and is estimated to continue throughout the rest of the year:

 

http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2016/07/11/demolition-good-samaritan-building-begins/86949440/

 

https://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2016/07/21/good-sams-footbridge-comes-down

Some photos of the Good Sam demolitions from http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/picture-gallery/news/2016/08/08/good-samaritan-demolition-week-4/88392040/

 

 

Those buildings really stuck out as you drove north out of town.

Checking back at the demolition of the Good Samaritan Hospital campus in Zanesville.  Google streetview updated their images to after the hospital campus was demolished - and the contrast between the before and after views are really something to see.  Below is an overhead view of the former hospital campus, which occupied nearly four full city blocks:

 

 

Here is an aerial view of the block containing the main hospital building:

 

 

Here is a 2012 streetview of the main hospital building from the corner of Forest and Ashland:

 

Here is the 2018 streetview of the same corner of Forest and Ashland after the main hospital building was demolished.  The only evidence that the hospital campus was ever there are the four street trees planted near the corner and the three-story medical office building down Forest Avenue which remained:

 

 

This before and after view further west at the corner of Forest and Hazel is even more dramatic.  Before view from 2012;

 

After view from 2018.  Talk about a clean slate demo(!):

 

 

Although one positive of this clean slate demo approach was the removal of the parking lots that jumped across Hazel Avenue into the adjoining residential neighborhood.  Lots of cars in 2012:

 

Lots of grass at Forest and Hazel in 2018:

We don't get much Zanesville development news, so it's unfortunate when this is the news we get:

 

Late-night fire destroys historic six-story Masonic Temple Building

 

From https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/01/07/business-surrounding-masonic-temple-ordered-close-friday/9128006002/

 

 

The building even had its own wikipedia page:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonic_Temple_Building_(Zanesville,_Ohio)

 

7 minutes ago, Columbo said:

We don't get much Zanesville development news, so it's unfortunate when this is the news we get:

 

Late-night fire destroys historic six-story Masonic Temple Building

 

From https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/01/07/business-surrounding-masonic-temple-ordered-close-friday/9128006002/

 

 

The building even had its own wikipedia page:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonic_Temple_Building_(Zanesville,_Ohio)

 

 Damn that's incredibly sad. Sucks to lose an old building like this to something so tragic. Hope the organization can find somewhere else to go. Those fraternal organizations are dying so this could be a death sentence for this particular chapter, assuming they still even occupied the place.

Major bummer. It was the tallest building left in Downtown Zanesville, following demolition of the old Zane Hotel.

 

Snack food maker to put new factory in Zanesville

 

"Barcel USA, best known for its Takis brand of snack foods, was granted a 1.3%, 10-year Job Creation Tax Credit for a new factory in the National Road Business Park, the first such development in the park.

 

The facility is expected to create 320 full-time jobs, with $15 million in annual payroll.

 

The company is owned by Grupo Bimbo. The company, headquartered in Mexico City and with facilities in 33 countries, has two locations in Zanesville, where they make bread products."

 

 

https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/11/01/snack-food-maker-barcel-usa-to-build-factory-in-zanesville/69606386007/

 

 

 

Planned lodging at The Wilds will allow guests to look into giraffe barn

 

"The Wilds will be the recipient of a $2.5 million grant from the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund to build a new giraffe barn as part of its conservation efforts and to build innovative lodging that allows guests to interact more freely with the animals in its 30th year of being open to the public.

 

'It’s apartment-style lodging that will serve as a way for guests to be more deeply engaged with giraffes, A family can rent out the second-floor apartment with windows that look into the giraffe barn. We’re getting lots of excitement around that idea and we think it will be very popular."

 

The Wilds is a private, non-profit safari park and conservation center that combines conservation science and education programs. It sits on more than 10,000 acres and is home to threatened and endangered species."

 

The Wilds also have a new RV campground opening in the spring of 2025, which allows them to bring Muskingum county water to the property for the first time since it began. Currently, outside of the new campground, the Wilds and all its operations use a potable water system.

 

Plans to re-do their high-speed internet network, as well as upgrading roads, parking, and drainage infrastructure are also in the works.

 

 

 

https://www.dispatch.com/

 

 

"The Baker Brothers Wholesale Grocery warehouse and building, 8-12 E. Main St., will be turned into a mixed-used complex with $2 million in tax credit from the Ohio Department of Development as part of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program to preserve and transform historical buildings into reusable community spaces."

 

https://www.dispatch.com/