NEW KIDS, OLD BLOCK

By ANDREW MCGINN

a.mcginn@beeherald.com

The analogy that’s been used as justification to keep Jefferson’s historic Square intact is that knocking down one building, or two buildings, would be like having a smile with missing teeth.

So it’s entirely fitting that the story of Heartland Bank’s decision to open a branch in Jefferson — in the process, becoming the first tenant of a newly rehabbed downtown building — begins with a trip to the dentist.

Kevin Black, president and CEO of a bank whose roots extend back to 1901 in the Calhoun County town of Somers (pop. 113), was in Jefferson for a dentist appointment when he decided to take a drive through downtown.

The sight of recently renovated storefronts — the result of a $1 million project in 2017 — in addition to the presence of the Thomas Jefferson Gardens, coupled with the community’s recent passage of a $21.48 million school bond to build a new high school and a regional career academy, told him that this is where Heartland needed to expand.

Heartland, which also has branches in Gowrie, Callender and Manson, opened its southernmost branch this week on the northeast corner of the Square, elbowing its way into a local banking scene with seemingly little give.

Fortunately, the man Heartland scouted to lead its expansion in Jefferson knows a thing or two about elbowing his way into things.

Business development officer Scott Weber, a 6-foot-8-inch former collegiate hoops star, most definitely sees an opening for Heartland in Greene County, where the rim has essentially been guarded for years by the Shaq of rural Iowa banks, Home State Bank.

“Competition has never hurt any consumer,” Weber, 38, explained recently. “The consumer is going to win in the end. It gives everybody an extra option.”

John Rosenboom, a Heartland vice president, is convinced that Weber is up to the task.

“Heartland Bank ... making big strides in Jefferson,” Rosenboom said on a recent afternoon, suggesting a potential headline inspired by Weber’s height.

“I wrote for the high school paper,” he added.

Weber, a two-time conference MVP during his playing days in the early ’00s at Division III Buena Vista University, was inducted last September into the Beavers’ athletics hall of fame. With the honor, he rejoined former teammate Adam Jones, of Jefferson, the son of Home State president and CEO Sid Jones, whose career 269 three-pointers remain a school record.

A native of rural Audubon, Weber and his family moved to Jefferson in 2014 for his job at Unger Insurance, a business he thought about eventually purchasing.

That, however, was before Black’s date with destiny, er, the dentist.

“They said my name kept popping up as someone who could possibly lead this push,” he said.

Weber agreed to meet with Heartland’s leadership — and what he heard struck a chord.

“They’re all about community, and giving back to the community,” Weber said.

That much was plain to see last week, as Weber worked to ready the bank for opening day. Furniture had yet to arrive, and there was still decorating to do — but propped against a wall was a giant, blank, ceremonial check.

“All ready for the big donations,” he said with a smile. “Everybody wants to see the big check.”

He said Heartland is small — the bank employs just two personal bankers, Kari Sanders and Tia Lowe, who double as tellers — but the bank is nimble.

“We’re a small, community bank,” Weber said, “and we make our decisions very quickly.”

Weber has banking experience from his college days in Storm Lake, but feels his more recent experience in the insurance industry will serve him just as well.

“I’m a people person. I enjoy talking. I enjoy hearing their stories,” he explained. “In both insurance and banking, trust is huge.”

A father of two, Weber also has thrown himself into community life since his arrival in 2014. He’s on the Jefferson Fire Department, volunteers with Jefferson Matters: Main Street and serves on the finance board of the Methodist Church, among other activities.

“He’ll be a great representative of the bank,” Rosenboom said.

Weber’s involvement with Jefferson Matters: Main Street makes it extra exciting to be the first tenant in the building the organization rechristened City View on State a few years ago.

The group’s work has led to Jefferson becoming a semifinalist for the 2020 Great American Main Street Award, a top honor for commercial district revitalization. The winner will be announced in May in Dallas.

Heartland purchased a lot just off Highway 4 near Wahl-McAtee and Jefferson Family Dentistry, but has no time line to build a new bank there, Weber said.

He said the bank has committed to being on the Square for at least two years, and he approached the city of Jefferson about City View on State even before work was complete on the main bay.

The wraparound two-story brick building — which dates to around 1880 — is one of a handful acquired by the city in recent years in an attempt to keep the Square intact. Jefferson’s Square is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sensibly Chic, 111 E. Lincoln Way, was the first dilapidated building the city renovated and got back into private ownership. But the changes at City View on State, located at 200 E. State St., are even more dramatic.

“The character of the building was there. The eyesore was on the interior,” city building official Nick Sorensen said of the building that became Sensibly Chic. “City View on State was an eyesore.”

The city bought the building at 200 E. State St. in 2016 for $100 from a bank in California, and has since invested $300,000 in rehabbing it, Sorensen said.

Windows that once were bricked in now offer spectacular views. The original tin ceiling is once again exposed, as is the building’s hardwood flooring.

Work has yet to be done on the building’s adjoining bay and its upper-story apartments.

He said demolition wouldn’t have been without costs, either — and that’s where it was headed.

“I have a long history with that building,” said Sorensen, a former local police officer. “I think I’ve kicked every single one of the doors in on a search warrant.”

As part of its lease with the city, Heartland will pay $1,500 per month in rent. Selling the building is still the goal, he said.

“The city is recouping, incrementally, their investments on these,” Sorensen explained. “It’s absolutely about the present, but just as much about the future, for our kids and their kids.”

The arrival of Heartland at 200 E. State St. is also a nod to the past.

The building was originally built as a bank — Jefferson’s first, as a matter of fact. City fathers Mahlon and Albert Head, who came to town after the Civil War, were the proprietors of the Greene County Bank, which, for a time in the 1800s, was the only bank in a 50-mile radius.

“It’s been through a lot,” Sorensen said about their old building. “And it’s housed a lot, too.”

The return of a bank there — now right next door to a software-design firm, The Forge — says a lot about the state of Jefferson.

“We feel it’s a growth area,” Weber said.