Land Bank Tackles Demolition Projects Across the County

ZANESVILLE, OH – The Muskingum County Land Bank held its monthly meeting, focusing on ongoing efforts to improve properties across the community.

During the meeting on April 2nd, officials shared updates on several major properties across the county. One of the biggest projects is the former Holiday Inn on East Pike, where demolition is already underway. Crews are still working through asbestos in portions of the building, but officials say they hope to have the project completed by June.

“Right now, we’re talking to some of the owners who own ground adjacent to it and we’re going to try to co-market the land with them. Altogether, there’s approximately 35 acres with interstate frontage out there.” Land Bank Executive Director, Andy Roberts said.

The Land Bank is also working to acquire the former Second Street Grill in Frazeysburg. Right now, they haven’t been able to get inside the building to assess its condition, but the goal is to eventually get it cleaned up and back in the hands of someone who can reopen it. In total, there are about 15 demolition projects happening simultaneously across Muskingum County.

“We go into neighborhoods where there might be one or two properties that are explicitly bad. We try to remove those and then try to figure out a way to redevelop that land to increase the viability of all those neighborhoods.” Roberts said.

The Land Bank says they’ll continue working to move these projects forward, with more updates expected in the coming months.