The Akron Zoo is planning to renovate its Tiger Valley exhibit, add monkeys and build a 64-foot Ferris wheel.
Zoo President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Piekarz unveiled the wide-ranging project Monday night during a presentation before Summit County Council.
The Tiger Valley exhibit, opened in 1998, needs to be upgraded to serve as a breeding facility for the African lions and Sumatran tigers housed there.
“The focus will be on the conservation of those species,” Piekarz said.
The zoo also wants to add more primates because of how popular they are with visitors. There are lemurs and tamarins at the zoo now, but there’s an interest in adding gibbons and black-and-white colobus monkeys.
The zoo will upgrade its red panda exhibit as part of the project so it can be a breeding facility for those animals.
Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel is expected to rise high enough into the sky to provide a picturesque view of downtown Akron.
The Ferris wheel will add another nostalgic amusement ride and serve as a way to generate additional revenue. Just like the carousel now at the zoo, there will be an additional cost to ride it.
A formal announcement about the overall project is expected later. Piekarz unveiled some of the details after providing an overview of the zoo to the council and after Councilman Tim Crawford quizzed him about future developments.
The zoo is in the early planning and concept stage, and hasn’t begun design work. Construction won’t start until 2017 or 2018, Piekarz said.
He declined to reveal the working cost estimate, saying it is still being finalized.
He also mentioned that there is a major “family-focused event” being planned between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but declined to release details about it.
The Akron Zoo is one of the most popular attractions in Summit County, having drawn 363,903 visitors last year.
The goal is to grow that by 100,000 by 2021 and one of the ways to do that is adding exhibits.
Looking much further into the future, Piekarz said there are plans for a large African plains exhibit potentially with rhinoceroses and a primate exhibit possibly with orangutans.
Those exhibits will depend on revenue, he said.
County Council members praised the zoo as a community attraction.
Councilman Jerry Feeman noted that it has come a long way since it was referred to years ago as a “duck in a bucket.”
The 50-acre zoo, which houses more than 700 animals, has added many popular exhibits over the years with Penguin Point, Legends of the Wild, Journey to the Reef and Grizzly Ridge.
It is supported through a 0.8-mill, seven-year countywide tax levy. That levy raised $8.5 million last year.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.
