Canon tops off frame of new Melville HQ

Shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday a huge steel beam was hoisted into the air by a crane and lifted to the top of the skeletal frame of what is to be a five-story office building in Melville.

The beam completes the last steel segment of what will be the North American headquarters of Canon U.S.A. Inc., the giant imaging company currently based in Lake Success. Next comes the cement, the finishing construction, the landscaping and the decorating.

Canon chief executive Joe Adachi said at the "topping off" ceremony the building will be completed by the end of 2012 and open at the beginning of 2013. The company, which has about 1,200 employees, will grow to more than 2,000 employees in the new building.

Political figures and business leaders were at the ceremony, the third Canon has held in the last year. The groundbreaking was last May, and a beam-raising ceremony was held in January.

Adachi told the crowd the office facility will open to neighborhood gatherings for barbecues and picnics. Its been given an address: One Canon Park.