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Canton accountant makes offer on former thrift shop building; mulls conversion to office

Posted 1/23/13

By CRAIG FREILICH CANTON -- Accountant Brian Staples has made an offer on a two-story house near his current office as an "investment with possibilities" that could end up as the new home of his …

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Canton accountant makes offer on former thrift shop building; mulls conversion to office

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- Accountant Brian Staples has made an offer on a two-story house near his current office as an "investment with possibilities" that could end up as the new home of his Court Street office, or a government or legal office.

It is at 39 Court St., up the block and across the street from his current office location at 30 Court St.

He owns that building, too, which also houses a New York State Workman's Compensation office and a state agriculture lab.

But Staples, a certified public accountant of long standing in Canton, is not pulling up stakes yet, and is considering the pending purchase as an investment in property along the street where the main St. Lawrence County offices and the county court are.

He said he has seen development of attorneys' offices and other court and government facilities in the area over the years, and that "it is an acquisition at the right time and the right location."

The house, at 39 Court St., next to the former Newman Center and reportedly at one time the home of clergy from St. Mary's Church, was most recently the site of the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop, which is moving onto Main Street.

The house is smaller than the 30 Court St. property, and some people thought that he and his three employees might be moving to smaller quarters, he said.

And while an office move might yet happen, he wants people to know "I am not downsizing."