Co-owners Brian and Mary Diamond and Judd and Cara Dodson were joined by local, regional, and state officials and leaders to celebrate the official grand opening of The Downtown Exchange, a dual purpose establishment housing a food hall and work and conference spaces. The formal ribbon cutting ceremony was held on August, 14, just a couple months after first opening proceeding a 14 month renovation period.
Along with being a fresh new destination for Zanesville, The Downtown Exchange is also about revitalizing an historic building with the goals of economic development and the growth of small businesses in mind. The Downtown Exchange is located at 527 Main Street in downtown Zanesville, historically known as The Black-Elliott Block. It was originally built in 1876 and joined the list of iconic buildings on the National Registrar of Historical Places in 1979. Redevelopment for the building was a $1.1 million collaborative effort between The Downtown Exchange LLC, Jobs Ohio, Ohio Southeast Economic Development, The Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority, and the City of Zanesville.
Senator Al Landis was in attendance during the ribbon cutting ceremony. “This is going to be a destination and I just see a lot of very positive things coming out for the city, for the exchange, for the ownership,” stated Landis.
Zanesville Mayor Donald Mason showed his support during the ceremony as well. “40 Years ago when I was in government here the trend was for businesses to move to the north end, it is just nice to see. It took four decades but now the trend is coming back to downtown,” said Mason.
The Downtown Exchange houses a variety of food vendors from central and southeastern Ohio. The vast majority of the various vendor’s menus differ from one another which provides something that caters to the tastes of each patron. “I wanted to build a location in downtown that you can have a drink, you can have a cup of coffee, you can have a sandwich,” said The Downtown Exchange Co-owner Brian Diamond. Within the sprawling 8,400 square feet of the first floor you will find offerings of adult beverages, coffee, tacos, gyros, hibachi, pizza, deli sandwiches, pies, cakes and other desserts including Instagram worthy extreme desserts.
6,000 Square feet of coworking and private meeting spaces are located on the upper levels. There are three spacious conference rooms, two of which seat 40 people while the other will accommodate 12. Each includes all the essentials needed to hold a meeting including a 72″ TV. The conference areas can be scheduled for hourly use on The Downtown Exchange website, downtown-exchange.com likewise, the shared work spaces can be reserved by the day or month.
“I think what you see today is really just the tip of the spear for redevelopment in downtown,” explained Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority Executive Director Matt Abbott.
