Converting the Ziems Conservatory into a restaurant and revamping and expanding the exhibit space for brown bears are two projects the Toledo Zoo plans to start later this year.
Zoo officials will appear at the Toledo Plan Commission’s regular meeting at 2 p.m. June 10 for a public hearing on the zoo’s institutional campus plan, which provides insight into potential future projects.
Jeff Sailer, president and chief executive, told The Blade the zoo’s institutional campus plan has to be updated occasionally. It first goes to the plan commission and then will be passed to city council’s review at the July 14 meeting.
Mr. Sailer said the Ziems Conservatory and brown bears exhibit projects are expected to get under way toward the end of this year, though formal design work has not yet been started.
The zoo is planning to convert the conservatory into an entrance for a new catering facility and restaurant, with seating to be in the current production greenhouse directly behind the conservatory and the kitchen in what is now the potting shed behind the greenhouse.
“It’s not very well used now,” Mr. Sailers said of the conservatory. “The general concept is you’re eating amongst the plants. ... It will be another great addition to this part of the city.”
Any plants of value inside the conservatory will stay and be factored into the new design, and the project should not affect the gardens outside. Part of the proposal includes making the restaurant accessible to patrons off Broadway Street without requiring general admission to the zoo.
A new production greenhouse near the zoo’s warehouse is being built now to ensure the zoo can continue its horticulture programs. Emerson the Galapagos tortoise, who normally spends winters inside the conservatory, will have a different winter living space later this year before the zoo expects to move him to a more permanent exhibit in a greenhouse off the Reptile House.
The zoo plans to use non-levy funding to pay the estimated $2 million cost of the project.
“We want to focus capital levy funding primarily on the historic WPA buildings,” Mr. Sailer said. “Those are true cultural gems for the community, and those projects are not going to get less expensive.”
The renovated brown bears exhibit space is estimated to cost about $3 million, for which private funds are being raised, Mr. Sailer said.
“This all goes back to our drive to be good stewards of public resources and an anchor for the community,” he said.
The hearing also includes a rezoning request for several properties along Spencer Street and Amherst Drive that the zoo acquired since its last plan update in 2006. The mix of residential and light industrial parcels would be rezoned to institutional campus in order to incorporate them into the campus plan.
The projects listed in plans submitted to the commission are conceptual, Mr. Sailer said, and may change or possibly never even materialize depending on a variety of factors. Many are based on the zoo’s 10-year master plan goal of minimizing the impact of weather for both visitors and animals.
“It’s all part of making the zoo a more year-round experience, mitigating weather, providing more space for animals that need different climates,” Mr. Sailer said. “In northwest Ohio, that means cooler places in the summer and warmer places in the winter.”
Several proposals include adding greenhouses to existing structures, including the historic Works Progress Administration-built Reptile House and Aviary, as was done recently with the renovated ProMedica Museum of Natural History.
Proposed developments along Spencer Street would include a new exhibit area for carnivores, off-exhibit animal space, a production greenhouse, and a zoo admission entrance. Other projects proposed include a breeding facility for red pandas and a plains exhibit.
First Published June 3, 2021, 11:24 a.m.
