Lavonia Cannery Exterior Renovation Nears Completion

Phase One of the renovation of the Lavonia Cannery is nearing completion.

Work has been going on all summer to give the exterior of the historic building a facelift.

At their meeting Monday evening, City manager Gary Fesperman gave the Lavonia City Council and mayor Ralph Owens an update on the work.

“The cannery project on the outside is nearing completion and we hope it will be done within the next 30 days,” he said. “The windows are all completely installed, the roof is in the final stages of completion. The screen porch and all the soffets, facia, and paint work has been completed except for some minor touch-ups.”

The City purchased the cannery back from the Franklin County Board of Education last year because the Board could not afford to do the the major structural repairs needed.

Fesperman said there are just few projects to complete on the outside.

“The remaining items we have left to take care include replacing six entry way doors,” he said. “Once we have all of that completed, that will take care of Phase 1 and will have the exterior completely renovated.”

Lavonia has been trying for the past year to obtain grant funding so a total interior and exterior renovation can be done, but so far, they have been unsuccessful.

Plans are for the interior to be renovated and turned into extra office space for the Lavonia Carnegie Library across the street and to use as extra public meeting space.