The design and development stage for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s new multi-million dollar visitor center should start in 2017. The project got the go-ahead after the park board recently approved the purchase of land for the facility.
Planning for a new visitor center has been in the works for about seven years. Park spokeswoman Jenni Vasarhelyi says the national park has outgrown the current facility.
“Right now, people are directed to Boston Store Visitor Center, which is in the Village of Boston. It’s a lovely center; the exhibits, however, focus on canal-boat building, not on the park holistically. So it really doesn’t work for visitors trying to understand what Cuyahoga Velley National Park is all about.”
More than two million people visit the park each year. Vasarhelyi says the park intends to purchase nearby property for the new facility from a Village of Boston landowner.
The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park is an organization that generates support for the park. It has raised more than $4.6 million so far for the new $6 million visitor center. If all goes as planned, the center is expected to open in the spring of 2019. More than 2 million people visit the park each year.
