The fluid fortunes of La Paris, the commercial space at 1104 Second Ave. in downtown Perry, are again in flux.
The former home of Conklin Jewelers, Woolworth’s and Spurgeon’s — and more recently the home of El Rey Market — was bought in late 2016 by West Des Moines developers Jacqueline Riekena and Davin Roberts, who unveiled lavish plans for a retail complex last summer.
“We are pleased to announced there will be eight new business ventures that will reside in the Historic District,” Riekena told the Perry Historic Preservation Commission in June. She said her $1 million investment in the 11,000-square-foot property would bring 100 jobs to Perry.
Calling the building a “destination venue,” Riekena said the retail complex would include a tea room, mercantile market, bakery, cantina, pizza parlor, clothing store and several other enterprises.
“The three corners of the building will be anchored by retail shopping, a pizza place and an amazing tea room,” Riekena said. “There will be a family-style restaurant and pub that will serve some of the best smoked burgers and meats. The bakery will bake sweets, treats, cakes, pies and rolls daily.”
Detailed plans for the corner property were revealed at a groundbreaking reception in September, and the opening of one or more of the businesses was anticipated by Christmas 2017. Demolition instead continued, and the holidays passed without any grand openings.
Now Riekena is looking to sell or lease the building and has listed the property with the commercial realtors Keller Williams.
“It is my own opinion that this entire building will be leased in four to six weeks,” Riekena said Thursday. Roberts could not be reached for comment.
Riekena and Roberts bought the building on contract for $135,000 from Rob Wenger of Perry. Wenger acquired the property in 1995 from the bankruptcy estate of Spurgeon Holding Corp.
“For the right price, all options are on the table,” Riekena said. “I really think, at the end of the day, I will not sell the building. I have my heart and soul in this building.”
The Oklahoma native has made a colorful addition to the cast of characters who people Perry’s downtown commercial culture. She has charmed many of her neighboring tradespersons, and few have sought to curb Riekena’s exuberance by having her served with no-trespass notices.
Riekena has also tried to involve herself in the community. She met with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Thursday in Des Moines for a ceremony proclaiming a Victims of Crime Week in April on behalf of the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance.
“This week several working in our state capitol got to hear about my ambitions in making Perry great again,” Riekena said. “They all plan to visit Perry, Iowa.”
She said she was a victim of a violent crime in Texas in 1990, later fighting for compensation for victims of crime and changes to Texas laws governing intent to kill and first-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
Why did they take all this time to realize they couldn’t do what they said they were going to do? They started work on the outside of the building. Now it is going to look horrible because I doubt if they will do any more work on it. A lot of hoopla for absolutely nothing. The city compliance officer should make them put the building back in shape on the outside as soon as possible and with all the junk inside of the building, who is going to want to buy or rent it?
What a terribly negative attitude the entire town of Perry, from townspeople to the mayor have been nothing but nasty. I’m disgusted with the behavior and lack of welcome for someone who wants to help Perry, not hurt Perry. If you walk in and see all of the work done, you’ll eat your words!
The inside is amazing! A big asset to Perry. She will finish the outside. And I think, John, that people in Perry should be supporting her, not banning her from things. I am ashamed of the way we have treated a new business coming to town. Why is everyone so negative?
I’ve been very impressed with the work done on the building and surprised that anyone would be critical of efforts made to improve the community. Not only has Jacqueline been an asset for the commercial community, but she has been a volunteer inspiration to the friends and family of Sabrina Ray as well as her work as an advocate for crime victims and Marsy’s Law. Every community needs a Jacqueline!
A recent article painted a negative picture on the La’Paris building in Perry, Iowa. The headline should of been positive as the building is huge and in a prominent location. The owners have been diligently working for 15 months on bringing a new destination venue to Perry. The headline should of read, ‘La’Paris business owners hire Keller Williams to help attract quality tenants to Perry, Iowa’.
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Peterson. Taste varies in headlines. We thought we were doing the owners a small favor by making it known that space was available for lease in their building, a free advertisement, as it were. Please permit us to point out that ThePerryNews.com does not strive in news stories to be either positive or negative but merely to be factual. If you want “positive” news, we suggest that you hire a PR firm.
Doing them a favor? Really? With a negative tone to the article suggesting the woman was a failure because her plans did not go accordingly? Putting in the scuttlebutt that others served her with “No Trespassing” writ because she was overly nice and charming? As far as being factual, I understand the need. I can respect that. No issues with that. Things didn’t go the way she said, so it’s important to point that out. But the tone of this article ought to serve as a dire warning to outsiders looking to do business in your town to stay very far away.
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Faulds. Whenever ThePerryNews.com gives a free plug to a business, we consider that we have done that business a small favor, a gratuity. It is too much to expect gratitude, of course, but we do not expect censure. Again, we did not intend and are not aware of any “negative tone” in the story or that the story is “suggesting” anything beyond the apparent facts of the matter: commercial space is available for lease in the building, and the building itself is subject to sale. No one will be surprised if the owners flip the building. It is all in the usual way of business. We fail to see what could be construed as “negative” in this news, but questions of “tone” and “suggestion” are subtle and often determined by the eye of the beholder. More broadly, the typical rhetoric used in America’s commercial culture tends to overhype, with the result that any language short on superlatives seems to damn with faint praise. As to your final point, we respectfully disagree. It is our opinion that the owners of businesses looking to locate in Perry will find an active and energetic commercial community that is eager to welcome them to town and assist in their success, as represented by the Perry Chamber of Commerce, Perry Economic Development and similar groups, and ThePerryNews.com stands ready to report all such good news. Perry remains a place to grow and a place to make yourself at home.
As a business owner that started from scratch, I didn’t realize every dream I had, but gratefully the local news in my community didn’t shove it down my throat. They were grateful for what I did accomplish and didn’t publicize my mistakes. To the entrepreneurs who are dreamers: beware of Perry. If your goals aren’t realized as quickly as you hope, expect an article pointing out your flaws with what they call a free plug. I have known Jacqueline and her family for years. They are very successful business owners and have a work ethic second to none. I wouldn’t blame her a bit if she closed up shop and left Perry to take her time, talents and treasures elsewhere.
Thank you for your comment, Ms. Westemeyer. Nowhere in the story in question were these latest developments characterized as “mistakes” or “flaws” or dreams deferred or anything similar. In general, ThePerryNews.com does not make it a practice to meet news, whether good, bad or indifferent, with marching bands and ticker-tape parades, but it appears that nothing short of fifes and drums would satisfy these building owners’ many fierce defenders. We shall do our best simply to inform our readers and leave leading the pep rallies to you.