The face of downtown will be changed because of the Cornerstone Project. Some local stores will be moving into the building and are expanding and redesigning their businesses once they move.

“I first heard about the project to build the Cornerstone building in 2011,” Jerry Mansour, one of the main consultants for the project said. “I was retained by the City of Fenton to find building developers and get the property itself ready for development.”

Mansour is involved with the city and the Downtown Development Authority with the development of the Cornerstone Project.

“The purpose of the Cornerstone Project is to help redevelop downtown Fenton and make the city look like it did 30-40 years ago,” Mansour said. “The Cornerstone Project will be good for the city of Fenton for these reasons.”

The stores and restaurants moving into the Cornerstone Building have big plans for their businesses. Cafe Aroma is one of these businesses. They are expanding and redesigning a lot of their former business aspects.

“Cafe Aroma will have a full kitchen staff,” junior Leah Lynch said. “We will also be expanding our menu and will have more variety. We will also have more dining space and will have later hours. The restaurant also got a liquor license. We will be serving craft beers made in Michigan.”

Lynch works at Cafe Aroma currently, and will be a hostess there when it opens in the Cornerstone Building.

“Even though we will be expanding into a more restaurant type environment, we are still trying to keep the cafe atmosphere that we have always had,” Lynch said. “We are hoping to be open around Thanksgiving.”