Abandoned Munson School Property To Be Retrofitted into Housing

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- The now abandoned Munson School Property may look like an eyesore, but it’s got real potential to serve the community and alleviate some of the housing problems plaguing the city. 

The property was put in the hands of the Muskingum County Land Bank this past July after being repossessed after taxes on the property went unpaid. 

“The best use that we can find for it is to do multi-family residential which it is zoned appropriately for that. Just recently the county has released about 90,000 dollars to redo the roof through the ARPA money that they received from the federal government,” Andrew Roberts, the GIS Coordinator for Muskingum County stated.

It will take some time, but fortunately for the project, the structure is able to remain, and mostly functional and cosmetic improvements need to be made. Clean-up will take awhile as well as renovations, but just a few years are needed to have this project complete.

“The timeframe that we have put on it, conservatively, we’re looking at -if we can get all the pieces to get put together the right way- we would be looking to have construction complete by 2024. If we can get everything put together,” Roberts said.

The biggest hurdle to this project is securing funding and financing the project. More funds through the ARPA program will be requested from the County Commissioners in the next few weeks.