There was one previous post about the Hercules site, from August 2006.  It is here:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=8276.msg119207#msg119207

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From the 9/26/06 Canton Repository:

 

 

Canton considers convention center

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

By ED BALINT

REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER

 

CANTON - Funded with a $735,000 state grant, a feasibility study will explore the concept of a convention center at the former Hercules Engine industrial site south of downtown.

 

As part of the state’s capital improvement budget, the grant is being administered by the Kent State University Stark Campus, said Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township.

 

 

Reach Repository writer Ed Balint at (330) 580-8315 or e-mail:

[email protected]

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=309958

 

For Canton?  :|

Eh, why not.

 

If Sharonville has a convention center, than why not Canton.

They're talking something in the "several hundred million" range?  Are they trying to build a facility the size of Columbus' and Pittsburgh's?

^ I think that dollar range includes the residential and commercial components of a proposed mega-project which includes a convention facility.

 

It seems highly ambitious, and unlikely.

 

Go Canton!

From the 10/22/06 Canton Repository:

 

 

PHOTO: Robert Timken (left) leads a group on a recent tour of the former Hercules Engine Co. property on Market Avenue south of downtown. Timken, a partner in Cormony Development, envisions the industrial property as a convention center. Three City Council members and two officials with the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce were among those who went on the tour of the 650,000-square-foot facility. A study, funded with a $735,000 state grant, is under way to determine the feasibility of converting the Hercules plant into a convention center.  JULIE VENNITTI

 

Hercules targeted for convention center

By ED BALINT

REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER

 

CANTON - Over the past six years, three consultants have studied the idea of a new civic center or convention center in downtown Canton.

 

A fourth study, devoted strictly to a convention center, is now under way with the help of a $735,000 state grant.

 

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=314750

 

"new convention centre" has been the silver bullet solution packaged for nearly every struggling city large and small over the last couple years...

From the 1/23/07 Canton Repository:

 

 

Retail, convention center planned for Hercules site

By ED BALINT

REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER

 

CANTON Developers are forging ahead with plans to transform the former Hercules Engine Co. site into a convention center with retail, office and residential space.

 

Robert Timken of Cormony Development, has been waiting for Economics Research Associates, an international consulting firm to complete a feasibility study on the 26-acre site just south of downtown on Market Avenue.

 

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=9&ID=331815&r=2&subCategoryID=

 

I may as well post the renderings, they have been available for some time now.  I wouldn't call these renderings inspired, but 200 million dollar developments are not common here, so we'll take it.  The website is cormonydevelopment.com if anyone is interested.  The first picture is pre construction.

I wish there were more Canton posts.... of course we rarely see renderings of projects around here.  I like the tower, it is modern, for Canton.  I don't care for the stretch of beige strip mall though.  The use of state Historic tax credits also limits what they can do with the old factory.  Isn't the interior of the convention space bleak?  I hope it was just a quick cheap rendering, it looks like an airport hanger.