Heavy equipment is being employed more in downtown Canton projects. A crane is operating in a roof replacement at the Penney’s building in Fulton Square Mall. Two buildings near the southwest corner of Main and Locust streets were razed last week, and the resulting debris is being cleaned up this week.

Jim Murphy, president of CFC, Inc. which is a Cook Industries real estate management company, explained Monday the old roof at Penney’s is being removed and replaced with a new roof. Tuckpointing work also has begun on the Penney’s building, and exterior painting is planned to begin there as well.

“We are sprucing up the mall to make it a more enjoyable arrival experience,” Murphy said. He added different colors of paint will be applied to the outside of the building “to make it more exciting than it was in the past.”

He said the color scheme was complicated to explain, adding it will be a “surprise.” He also said, “We’ve selected colors to complement the existing downtown buildings.”
Murphy said work to complete the tuckpointing and roof replacement work at Penney’s will be done as quickly as the weather allows, so the exterior painting can get started. The hope is to complete the improvements at the mall store by the end of November.

As for the buildings demolished on the west side of Main Street, he said there were no future plans for that property at this point. The buildings were torn down as a safety concern, Murphy explained.

That property and the mall are owned by Bill Cook, who grew up in Canton and went on to build the largest privately owned company in the world due to his success in the production and sale of medical devices. Cook is currently building a facility to manufacture medical devices at the former International Harvester plant site in Canton. Construction is expected to be completed by Feb. 2.