GENEVA – The Erday building in Geneva has gone through an almost total renovation and modernizing since Andrew and Rachel Grider of Glen Ellyn purchased it last year.

Erday's Men's Store at 301 W. State St. was a men's clothing store from 1925 until 2013 when it closed. The front was leased to a jewelry store but now is home to clothing store Edie Boutique.

Erday's at 10 N. Third St. – now home to wealth management and tax firm Leelyn Smith – is so unlike its previous appearance, one would swear it was a brand-new building.

“We’re trying to lift up the whole block,” Andrew said.

The 6,000-plus-square-foot inside – which had been leased to a business that sold antiques and jewelry – now hosts a long hallway with offices on either side, conference rooms and an employee break room.

The long white windowless wall that faced the sidewalk is now full of windows, bringing light to the reception area and to a row of offices – yes offices! – where employees can see out and the passing public can see in.

“Every single office has a window,” Andrew said.

Even the offices on the other side of the indoor hallway have windows that face those streetside windows, so they all get natural light as well.

The desktops move up and down so employees can position them as standing desks.

The company president’s office – that is, Andrew’s office – is at the end of the hallway in an area that was once a windowless concrete loading dock, dark as a cave.

“And now it just feels like an office,” Rachel said.

The area outside his office, which leads to the employee break room has a big skylight, giving it one more oomph of natural light.

Local talent

Rachel, a stay-at-home mom of three, was swept into the role of project manager, working with Cara Mamott of Haven Design Group to get the interior features and colors just right.

“It was a lot of work,” Rachel said. “Cara (Mamott) of Haven Design Group really did the design. She was the one that I would credit … when it came to transforming this building, the second floor and the apartments.”

These include a dark blue wall in reception – the color is Inkwell – and the dove-gray color scheme with accents of charcoal in a modern herringbone carpet pattern. The entry area features a porcelain front to the reception desk, made to look like quartz crystal.

“We used almost all local talent,” Rachel said.

The other local talent was architect Dan Marshall of Marshall Architects in St. Charles, Hogan Design of Geneva, financing from the State Bank of Geneva and Murray Commercial of St. Charles aided in the sale of the property.

Haven Design Group LLC will have an office on the second floor with a cabinet showroom and a demonstration kitchen.

The remaining space is two apartments, one with a rooftop balcony that is for rent and the other – for which Rachel takes credit – is for rent as an airbnb.

The second floor

The second floor was as much work as the first floor.

“It was the vacant Erday’s apartment which had not been renovated since the ’50s,” Andrew said.

“There was a vacant apartment – from what we were told hadn’t been used since the ’60s. It was filled with mannequins and a children’s swimming pool, catching water," Andrew said. "We put on a whole new roof. That was a large part of this – how are we going to … reimagine the second floor?”

There was a business still renting on the second floor, but it moved to Chicago.

Leelyn Smith

The name, Leelyn Smith, combines The Retirement Network and a tax firm that was formerly Crandall Crandall and Baert, Andrew said.

“The two firms – The Retirement Network and Crandall Crandall and Baert were both founded by Tim Crandall and we have a ton of employees and clients of both,” Andrew said. “The founder started as a tax firm in Geneva, one of the first offices above Stockholm’s.”

The Retirement Network on Williamsburg Avenue, moved because it outgrew the space, he said.

Its move to the Erday building and combination with the tax firm lent it to be rebranded as Leelyn Smith.

“This has been my vision and personal investment, but it’s an investment in everybody here and the clients and everything that came before it,” Andrew said.

The Erday building was the perfect size and location, he said.

“With a premier location, it was a great time – we felt – to eliminate confusion for clients and combine into one name,” Andrew said. “We have wealth management and tax and we offer something called a ‘family office’ … that helps multiple generations and business owners with the right counsel they need – accounting, insurance, legal – you name it.”

More information about Leelyn Smith is available online at www.leelynsmith.com or by calling 630-232-8995.