The Cole Center Zanesville
Executive Summary
The CCZ is the
vision of Ron and Erin Cole. Ron Cole’s
nationally renowned works of aviation art have already proven to be a tourist
attraction at his gallery on Main Street in Zanesville. CCZ will be nearly 7-times larger and dedicated
to entertaining and inspiring visitors young and old.
In mid-2023 Ron
Cole and his wife, Erin Cole, purchased the formerly condemned 26,000-square-feet
historic Montgomery Ward Building in downtown Zanesville, Ohio, and established
Cole Center Zanesville, Inc., as a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization (CCZ). CCZ will transform the historic structure
into a museum and interactive collection of historic aviation and automotive
displays, all in the interests of art, education, tourism, and local economic
development.
The CCZ project has
the support of the City of Zanesville, which as has awarded a $23,000 grant to
the project. The Zanesville-Muskingum
County Conventions and Visitors Bureau also supports the project as it can be a
center piece of the community’s arts and culture tourism strategy that will
complement the Zanesville Art Museum, the Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio, Yan
Sun Art Museum & Gallery and downtown First Friday’s Events.
The Coles have and will continue to personally invest in the project. However, state and private foundation grant requests and a planned capital campaign will help offset the high cost of rehabilitating the downtown building. Once renovated, fee revenues will allow the sustained operation of the Cole Art Center.
Background
Ron and Erin Cole have a successful aviation art business,
Cole’s Aircraft Aviation Art, with an existing 4,000-square-feet gallery and studio
at 616 Main Street, Zanesville, Ohio. Cole’s Aircraft Aviation Art offers over 600 different products. From the studio they produce prints of
historic aircraft and ship them around the world. Many of Ron Cole’s high-end works include
actual pieces of the historic aircrafts in the art. Learn more at https://roncole.net.
Ron is a product development engineer, artist, and designer who
has worked for Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Boeing, NASA and other renowned
companies. His passion has always been
aviation, and 12 years ago, he made his aviation art business his full-time
job. The Cole Aviation Art Gallery is a
showcase and has helped to reinvigorate Main Street in Zanesville.
The Coles both serve as officers for the Artist Colony of
Zanesville (ArtCOZ), which hosts the community's First Friday Art Walks,
Y-Bridge Arts Festival, and Holiday Art Fest, among other area art activities
and shows. The Coles recognize how
tourism art can drive economic revitalization.
Ron Cole is a collector of historic
aircrafts and aircraft elements. The
center piece of his existing gallery on Main Street is the cockpit and front
fuselage of a WWII A6M2 Model 21 Zero fighter.
Most of his collection has remained in storage due to lack
of display space, but the collection includes significant pieces of aviation
and aerospace history, such as a girder from the airship Hindenburg, original
material from the Wright Brother's 1903 Flyer and Lindbergh's Spirit of St.
Louis, sections of titanium from an SR-71 Blackbird, Space Shuttle Atlantis,
Apollo 1, and hundreds of other important pieces of history and technology
covering the dawn of flight to the present day.
The exhibit space at the CCZ will allow for more displays of
aviation and automotive history and art on a much larger scale than the current
gallery.
CCZ is being modeled after the Owls Head Transportation
Museum in Owls Head, Maine. That
facility has been operational for almost 50 years and draws over 30,000
visitors a year. The Owls Head
Transportation Museum was established as a non-profit collection of historic
transportation-themed displays in 1974. The collection has grown to include
over 150 historic aircraft, automobiles, and related artifacts. The facility is constantly booked for related
events, conventions, auctions, reunions, and lectures, all of which bring
thousands of visitors into the small community of Owls Head. Focusing upon education and inspiring young
people, the organization plays a vital role in exposing young minds to
technology, history, mechanics, and other subject matter. Learn more at https://owlshead.org.
Owls Head is a small town far removed from other cities. Conversely, CCZ is four blocks from heavily traveled I-70 between Columbus and Pittsburgh. The CCZ will be a draw for aviation enthusiasts and augment Ohio’s aviation strengths and history as home of the Wright brothers, WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker, record-setting astronauts Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Museum, GE Aircraft Engines, NASA Glenn and the burgeoning eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) industry.
Cole
Center Zanesville
The Coles
acquired the four-story former Montgomery Ward, 35 S. 4th Street,
Zanesville, during the summer of 2023. The building had been largely vacant for over 20 years and decaying with
time. The 26,000-square-feet building
was condemned by the City of Zanesville before the Coles bought it. The roof has been repaired, and the property
has been sealed. Plans have been made for a $3.8-million
complete renovation of the building.
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization the Cole COZ, Inc., will
own the building. CCZ will operate the
facility as “an event and program venue which collects, preserves, and promotes
artifacts, relics, and artwork for the benefit of the people of Zanesville,
Ohio, and the surrounding communities by facilitating collaboration, tourism,
and education of art history and technology.” The Coles will donate their vast collection of
art, displays, and rare artifacts to CCZ.
The CCZ mission has
two parts, neither of which will ever be at the expense of the other: Help
recognize, preserve, and display Ohio's preeminent role in aerospace
development in the United States, and to utilize our displays, our building,
our events and our location, to help educate and inspire our young people in
the areas of aerospace, technology, history, design, and art.
The CCZ will feature two floors of exhibit
space as well as event space and classroom space. Learn
more at: https://colesaircraft.world/cole-art-center
Project Economic Impacts
CCZ will become key component of the Zanesville community’s
arts and culture tourism strategy that will complement the Zanesville Art
Museum, the Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio, Yan Sun Art Museum & Gallery
and downtown First Friday’s Events.
Based upon the Owls Head museum in Maine visitors and
visitors to the Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio in Zanesville, thousands of art
and aviation enthusiasts can be expected to visit CCZ.
A study by Tourism Economics calculated that visitors spent
$155.4 million in Muskingum County in 2019. The Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study
found that a typical Southeastern Ohio arts and culture visitor from outside of
the county spends an average of $48 in a community they visit. While The Wilds is the biggest attraction in
the county, visitors often seek add-on events to turn a day-trip into a weekend
trip. CCZ will provide the over 110,000
annual visitors to The Wilds a reason to turn a day trip into a weekend
trip. Adding an overnight stay, greatly
increases the visitor expenditures through lodging, meals and bed taxes. The Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) estimates
adding an overnight stay increases per person expenditures by $120 per person. Even
modest assumptions about visitors and overnight stays could generate a half a
million dollars a year in visitor spending in Muskingum County.
Project
Educational Impacts
The Coles intend to significantly expand upon the
community’s efforts to help young people of our region determine how they wish
to proceed with their education. Through CCZ, the Coles will significantly
expand upon their partnership with leaders of STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Math) programs in the area by offering career exploration, dual
enrollment credit opportunities, and apprenticeships. The Coles are meeting
regularly with leaders from Foxfire public charter school for at-risk youth to
establish joint programs for their students at CCZ.
Project Budget
Project
Sustainability
CCZ has employed a CPA with non-profit experience to prepare
five-year operating financial projections. Revenues will include memberships dues, admission fees, tour fees, rent
and gift shop sales. Expenses include
payroll, utilities, advertising, insurance, and other related operating
expenses. The Owls Head Aviation and
Transportation Museum in the small town of Owls Head, Maine, serves as the
model. The Owls Head facility has been
operational for nearly 50 years in a more isolated location, yet it draws over
30,000 visitors a year. The projections
show CCZ opening in year two after completing renovations. Year two revenues are projected at $125,985. Projections reflect a ramp up of visitors and
revenue each year, reaching positive cash flow by the fourth year of
operations.
Approximately 4,500 SF of space in the basement of the
building will be leased to Cole’s business, Cole’s Aircraft Aviation Art for
production and warehouse space. The
business will pay a market rent to CCZ, which will help sustain its
operations.
Project Timeline
CCZ is proceeding with project design and permitting. The Coles hope to receive approval for the
Ohio’s Strategic One-Time Community Investment Fund grant in the summer of 2024
and begin construction in the fall of 2024. Construction will take an estimated 14 months. CCZ should be open and operational in early
2026.
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