Haaland Financial Services happy to be home in Citizens State Bank

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Dean Haaland, left, and Colleen Smith recently returned to the renovated Citizens State bank building

Dean Haaland of Haaland Financial Services in Perry said he is happy to be back where his business started, in the historic Citizens State Bank building at 1126 Second St. The Haaland firm returned after a 2.5-year hiatus.

“Yes, we kept our old stationary,” Haaland said with a smile. He said he started his financial services consultancy in 2000 in the Citizens State Bank, and it still feels like home.

The corner commercial property has a storied history. S. S. Dillenbeck bought the Citizens State Bank in Perry in 1898, according to the Rand McNally Bankers’ Monthly of that year, but the Dillenbeck building as it stands today at Second and Warford streets was not built until 1903, according to county records.

The downtown landmark was bought in 2013 by the Des Moines architect Kirk Blunck, whose sudden death in January 2016 stalled restoration work on the property.

Haaland Financial Services operated out of the corner offices until 2015, when the pace of Blunck’s renovations slowed and then stopped. Haaland then relocated his offices to 902 First Ave. in Perry.

“It’s hard to believe we were there for two-and-a-half years,” said Colleen Smith, office manager for Haaland Financial Services. Smith said sharing the First Avenue building with Melodie Whiton was a pleasant experience.

Emily and Dan Leslie of rural Perry bought the 8,000-square-foot downtown landmark in October 2016 and have been steadily restoring it, and the found Haaland Financial Services eager to move back in.

The Leslies bought both the Citizens State Bank building at 1126 Second St. and the Dillenbeck building at 1124 Second St. Local woodworking master Joe Warnock has done much of the restoration work on the buildings.

Haaland said a few minor details remain, such as some staining around a door and a bit of brick work, but the bulk of the remodeling is complete. Smith said they are also waiting on some new furniture for the lobby.

 

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