Demolition is underway inside the former Stitches in Time building at 1203 Second St. in downtown Perry, with a restaurant planned for the ground floor and the long-term goal seeing the upper-story apartments restored and occupied.
Zach Thomas of Perry is leading the retrofitting of the building. He has worked for 16 years with J. R. Sheffer, the Osceola restaurateur behind success stories such as the Sports Page Grill, the Wobbly Boots Roadhouse smokehouse barbecue in Clive and the Brickhouse Tavern pizza and beer pub in Indianola.
Thomas said the Perry property will make the 10th or 11th restaurant he has developed with Sheffer. He said he and his girlfriend moved to Perry about six months ago in order to restore and resell — or flip — houses, and they came across the for-sale Stitches in Time building almost by accident.
“My girlfriend saw this place was for sale and said we had to take a look,” Thomas said. “It’s exactly the kind of old building we love to restore. This one needs a lot of work, but the foundation is solid. And the price was right on the property. It leaves us a lot of money where we can do a lot of retrofitting to it.”
The building was purchased Jan. 30 for $58,900 from George and Cathy Kurtinitis, according to county records.
Sheffer was enthusiastic about Perry as a potential site for a successful restaurant.
“I’ve opened restaurants in Winterset and Pella and Indianola and Ankeny,” he said, “so I like the little towns. To retrofit this into a restaurant will take a ton of work, but the bones are good.”
Thomas and Adam Sheffer, J. R.’s nephew, were busy Sunday afternoon, hauling an enormous amount of shelving from the basement of the building. The commercial space was a Hallmark store for many years before it became the Stitches in Time antique mall.
J. R. Sheffer said Perry is attractive for the number of old buildings that have been kept up or restored.
“I like the small towns,” he said. “I love the old buildings. I own one in Valley Junction and one in Indianola, and we’ve brought back the original hardwood, and we’ve brought back the original brick and the original tin ceilings in both those properties, so for me, I really love the old buildings there in Perry. I think it’s great. The one catty-corner from us by the bank is absolutely gorgeous, one of the neatest buildings I’ve ever seen. The post office is another great property. The little bike shop right next to the Hotel Pattee — gorgeous building — and the Carnegie Library is just beautiful. Out of all the little communities that I’ve been involved in, Perry has the nicest street I’ve seen with old buildings.”
A formula that can restore a dilapidated building while also making it a commercial success is a win-win for both the community and the entrepreneur, he said.
“We open restaurants,” Sheffer said. “That’s what we do. So if we can restore an old building and bring it back to its original glory and we can put a restaurant in it, great. You get the best of both worlds.”
Just what his Perry restaurant venture will specialize in and how it will be themed are still open questions, he said. His Wobbly Boots Roadhouse in Clive, for instance, serves dishes ranging from smoked barbecue and hand-pattied burgers to giant tenderloins and smoked meatloaf.
“We don’t have a concept yet,” Sheffer said. “I’ve done everything from a bar-and-grill to a smokehouse to a pizza-and-pasta restaurant. We just have to look at hiring people, what we can do there for employees, and that’s kind of based on what kind of a restaurant. We’ve kind of got an idea, but we still need to talk it through with our managers here (in Clive) and the key people that we do the restaurants with.”
Whatever the foods they serve, Sheffer said a family atmosphere will prevail.
“Our restaurants definitely bring people to the downtown area,” he said. “It’s a meeting place where after a football game, that’s where you’ll see your family and friends. That’s the type of place we do. They’re big, family-oriented restaurants. We create atmospheres like that. We create — I don’t want to say a cliche Cheers-like atmosphere, but it is. It’s where everyone knows each other. Everyone knows your name.”
Thomas said the apartments upstairs will take a lot of work to restore, including new windows throughout.
“The apartments upstair have a lot of water damage,” Thomas said, “and it will take a ton of work to bring them back to their glory days, which we are planning on doing. Our ultimate goal is to get the main level rolling and generating some income, so then you’re able to do other things. Once we have the retail space rolling, then it’s, ‘Hey, let’s go upstairs and start digging in.’ I’m looking forward to it. I love seeing the buildings come back to life.”
The three-story building was built in 1900, and each floor has about 6,400 square feet in area. Thomas said the upper floors were previously divided into 15 units plus two law offices. He said the provisional plan for restoration foresees six two-bedroom units on the third floor and five more on the second, along with a utility room.
Sheffer said he is committed to small-town business success and thinks Perry will pay off.
“The hard thing in the small communities is getting operators to go to them,” he said. “Most people are afraid of the small communities, but I’m totally opposite. I think you can do a fantastic business. We’ve had success in every small town we’ve put a restaurant in. I don’t think Perry will be any different. We jump into the community with both feet. Once we’re there, we’re in.”
