Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio is entering the final phase of a $4 million capital campaign to build a new Zanesville campus that leaders hope will be under construction in 2027, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported.
The effort is anchored by a $2 million lead gift from the J.W. & M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation, according to a community announcement, and will fund a new regional hub near Putnam and Woodlawn avenues in Zanesville.
The development is planned on two acres and would include a 17,000-square-foot Habitat ReStore along with a 3,000-square-foot annex building. Habitat officials said the annex will house staff offices, construction equipment storage, community meeting space and a training center modeled after the organization’s facility in Millfield.
The project comes after more than a decade at Habitat’s current Zanesville ReStore location in Sunrise Center, which the organization says faces challenges including a leaking roof, limited climate control, energy inefficiencies and inadequate storage space.
“Constructing this new campus in Zanesville allows us to improve ReStore operations, streamline our construction and home repair programs across Muskingum County, and offer dedicated resources that directly empower local residents,” said Ken Oehlers, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio.
“As we enter the home stretch of our fundraising efforts, community support will be crucial in helping us break ground in 2027,” Oehlers said.
Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio serves families across the region through home construction, repairs and its ReStore operations, which sell donated building materials and household goods to fund the mission. The Zanesville campus is intended to be the organization’s regional hub for those programs.
The campaign’s final phase is a community ask as much as a construction plan. Habitat leaders say donations, ReStore purchases and volunteer time all feed the same mission in Muskingum County and across southeast Ohio, and the new campus is designed to make that work easier to find, easier to join and easier to sustain once the Putnam and Woodlawn hub opens.
Photo: Paul Sableman, CC BY