Secrest Auditorium sees a major milestone for it’s renovation

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Secrest Auditorium expansion hit a milestone on Tuesday as the final steel beam was installed, featuring signatures of community members who helped make the project a reality.

Zanesville Mayor Don Mason was there to sign the symbolic milestone and says this expansion started back in 2020, during a conversation over coffee.

Zanesville Mayor Don Mason joins several community members in signing the final steel beam of the project.

“Then as 2021, 2022 developed, we started coming up with more and more plans. So then we are blessed that we had the DeWine/Husted administration supporting us with the $6.5 million of grants. We had Straker Foundation and Rogge (Foundation) providing a million and a half million respectively,” Mason said. “So all of a sudden a project that goes from people sitting around a table drinking coffee to now you have sitting behind us the final piece of steel beam put in and the rest of the building will be completed, of course, this year.”

The renovations will include a 20,000 square feet expansion to create a new lobby along with improved ADA access thanks to a new elevator installation. Mason says that this is part of several projects to transform Zanesville into a more vibrant destination to increase tourism, along with a quality of life improvement for citizens.

“Between all the work being done by the library, the work that is about to be done by Muskingum County Convention Facilities Authority and the work we’re doing here, we’re in the process of transforming Zanesville,” Mason said. “It truly will be the gateway to Appalachia and it’s going to be right here in Zanesville. So people are going to be going from West to East and they come through here, they’re going to see a town that is vibrant.”

The Secrest Auditorium renovations are expected to be completed this fall but will continue operation throughout the project.