Vince Sturm, owner of the Generations Wealth Advisors company, has purchased the historic Dillenbeck building at 1124 Second St. and the Citizens State Bank building at 1126 Second Ave.
The corner commercial lot has seen a lot of Perry 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 at Second and Warford streets was not built until 1903, according to county records.
The 8,000-square-foot landmark was acquired in 2013 by the noted Des Moines architect Kirk Blunck, whose sudden death in January 2016 stalled restoration of the property. Local entrepreneurs Emily and Dan Leslie of Perry bought the building in the fall 2016 and sold it to Sturm in April.
“The opportunity presented itself, and it seemed like a risk worth taking,” Sturm said. “The building is situated at the very heart of Perry’s commercial district. It’s really the center of the town.”
Sturm, whose background is in accounting, has worked in the financial-planning field for about 25 years. He worked out of offices at 1401 Willis Ave. from 2011 to 2020, when he bought out Haaland Financial Services in the Citizens State Bank building at 1126 Second St., little expecting to soon find himself owning the property.
Alex Sturm, Vince Sturm’s son, works with father, making the company’s name, Generations, apply to its investors and managers alike. Alex is a 2017 graduate of the University of Iowa, where he studied finance and leadership management. He said he was always interested in finance when growing up and dreamed of working with his dad to build a community and family practice.
That dream is now being realized. The Sturms works at creating strategic solutions to help business owners, individuals and families solve their financial and risk management issues through wealth management, retirement planning, business ownership succession planning and estate planning.
The building’s other tenants have not left: Tari Mason’s Perry Perk coffeehouse at 1201 Warford St. and Emily Leslie’s Backwards Boutique at 1124 Second St. are still open for business as usual.
For more information, call Office Manager Tracey Shryack at 515-465-9843 or visit the Generations Wealth Advisors website.
