Rock Falls accounting firm on the move

ROCK FALLS – A local accounting firm in need of more space has found it and will move to its new headquarters in the first half of June.

Rock Falls-based Downie & Associates CPAs PC is moving from 907 W. Rock Falls Road to 204 W. 10th St., after completely renovating the building to suit its needs.

Owner Joel Downie said work is wrapping up at the building that used to be home to Beelendorf Deli & Catering.

“We’re doing the last of the trim work, and putting in carpet,” Downie said. “We should be able to move in the first or second week in June.”

One big job looms – the parking lot, and that will be done next week.

The building, put up in 1985, has a completely new look, inside and out. Downie has carefully followed the process and taken photos so others can do the same.

“We had everything down to the studs,” Downie said. “I’ve been taking quite a few pictures during the process, and they’ll become a storybook of the building’s transformation.”

The name of the business also will change from Joel Downie PC to Downie & Associates CPAs PC. That change already has been made on the firm’s website.

Downie started with the firm in 1980, when it was in the Pignatelli building. He worked with Dennis Jokerst, and after becoming partners, he bought out Jokerst in 1994. One year later, he moved to his site on Rock Falls Road.

He now has five full-time employees and a part-timer, so cramped quarters prompted Downie to look for another building.

He owns the building he shares with Edward Jones, and the investment company branch wanted to stay.

Downie thought about remodeling the building, but decided it wouldn’t work according to his plans. The move will double Downie’s available space.

“I just happened to be driving down 10th Street one day and saw the building was for sale,” Downie said. “Patrice [Beelendorf] Vary was still making pies there, so when I bought it last August, I let her phase out her business.”

Downie soon will welcome a new employee with the same last name.

“My son Timothy graduated in accounting from the University of Missouri last May, and he wants to join the business.”

His wife, Lori, is the firm’s receptionist, and another son, Matthew, does data-entry work for the office. Jonathon Schutt is the other CPA.

Downie does personal and business accounting, as well as financial and estate planning. Although he is based in Rock Falls, he does work throughout northern Illinois.

DOWNIE & ASSOCIATES CPAS PC

New location: 204 W. 10th St., Rock Falls

Old location: Moving from 907 W. Rock Falls Road, Rock Falls

Contact: 815-625-8800 (phone), 815-625-8852 (fax)

Online: downiecpa.com

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday