SiteOhio is marking 10 years of helping Ohio communities and companies find the right fit. JobsOhio’s best-in-class site readiness program evaluates a site’s potential, closes infrastructure gaps, and connects the right community partners so projects can move forward successfully.
Part 3 of 4: National Road Business Park (Zanesville-Muskingum County)
Eight years ago, a 203-acre property outside Zanesville was an empty stretch waiting for its next chapter. Today, it’s home to a 201,600-square-foot building leased to a national construction firm — a build-ready pad right off State Route 40, less than a mile from Zanesville’s airport, sized for a million square-foot facility, with the keys ready to hand to a company.
Doing the Homework
The Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority — funded by the city and county, with the ability to buy, sell, and develop property directly — bought the site approximately eight years ago. What followed was the unglamorous work that makes a site marketable: extending sewer capacity, building an access road, and completing the required due diligence studies. In 2021, the Port Authority began the SiteOhio process, leading to National Road Business Park earning authentication in early 2022.
We worked closely with JobsOhio when we purchased it, and they helped fund the access road that made all of this possible,” said Amy Young, the Port Authority’s Business Development Specialist, who has been with the agency for 12 years. “When companies see it’s authenticated, they don’t have to worry about whether the ground is okay, or whether there are chemicals in the soil. They know it’s been gone over with a fine-tooth comb and is ready to go.
The Power of Authentication
A $3.6 million Ohio Future Fund award followed SiteOhio authentication and is now being used to bring 72-plus acres to build-ready status: utilities, due diligence, and a pad in place.
For Young, the value of authentication is most evident when companies submit Requests for Information.
A lot of them have the question: ‘Is the site certified?’ Being able to say yes gets us to that second round or third round,” she said. “I don’t have to explain how great the site is. I can just say it’s SiteOhio Authenticated, and they know exactly what that means.
Without it, Young said, the job is a lot more paperwork: geotechnical reports, Phase 1 environmental studies, wetlands surveys — each passed along one document at a time, trying to prove what a SiteOhio Authenticated stamp of approval says at a glance.
Executive Director Eric Reed points to the site’s location as the other half of the pitch: less than a minute to I-70, less than a mile from the Zanesville Municipal Airport, five minutes from downtown Zanesville, and a rail transfer station nearby. But he’s just as quick to credit direct ownership, too. The Port Authority can move without waiting for a third party to sign off because it holds the deed.
It’s turnkey and we own it,” Reed said. “That’s a big deal.
It’s the kind of advantage that compounds with authentication rather than competing with it.
The program’s reputation and credentials give end users more confidence to advance the site,” Reed said. It’s proof, in his view, that a decade of due diligence has built something the Port Authority can point to instead of just promise.
National Road Business Park came up for reauthentication in 2025, a moment Young admits was stressful.
It was worrisome. I thought we were going to have to go through the whole process again,” she said. “It was nice just to be able to renew it.
The renewal reflects something National Road Business Park and other authenticated sites like it have proven over and over: once the infrastructure and due diligence work is done, it stays done, and the site keeps its standing as one of the region’s top-tier options.
With roughly 140 acres still open and interest continuing to build, the Port Authority isn’t done.
It’s definitely not a fully built park,” Reed said. “There’s plenty of room for activity.
Learn more at www.jobsohio.com/site-selection
