Roger Williams Park Zoo releases master plan

ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO has released its master plan for the next 20 years.
ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO has released its master plan for the next 20 years.

PROVIDENCE – The trustees of the Roger Williams Park Zoo have unveiled a 20-year, master plan focused on $75 million in improvements to “the entire guest experience,” zoo Executive Director Jeremy Goodman said.
Goodman is also executive director of the Rhode Island Zoological Society, whose Board of Trustees showed off the new plan at a meeting Wednesday night. GLMV Architecture of Wichita, Kan., helped develop the plan, the zoo said in a press release.
The plan includes three $25-million phases, with each expected to take five to seven years to complete. Improvements will include new dining options, high-end rental facilities, improved pedestrian flow, additional restrooms, additional parking, resolution of physical access concerns, new event spaces and more attractions for visitors to experience.
Design is underway for the first project of phase 1, a new rainforest exhibit, with construction expected to start next spring. Next, the zoo will build a new, larger education center near admissions and the parking area to accommodate the growth of its award-winning programs and camps, Goodman said.
The third and final phase focuses on the upper zoo with construction of two new large primate exhibits, an outdoor play area and a new tiger habitat. A complete reworking of the North America exhibit area will feature big horn sheep, grizzly bear and moose.
The zoo attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually, said Goodman.
“This plan will help to increase that traffic with an estimated annual addition of 52,000 out of state visitors and 137,000 Rhode Islanders drawn to experience the new features by the end of the first phase,” he said.
The work is expected to create 150 new direct construction jobs and 155 indirect jobs during each phase, he added.
With funding for zoo improvements approved as part of the Clean Water, Open Space and Healthy Communities Bond passed by voters last fall, the zoo has $15 million in seed money to begin the first phase of the plan this year. Society staff will initiate campaigns to raise the additional $10 million needed to complete the individual projects in phase one.

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