The Glass Block Building

The Glass Block Building The Glass Block Building has a rich history that is being preserved while we stride into the future.

04/09/2026

We have spaces available for your retail/commercial needs! We focus on creative space making, so anything that fits well with the vibe of the building, we want to give you an opportunity to thrive!

We have immediate availability in our Southwest window area! Plenty of natural light, one of the highest traffic areas in the building, and it measures approximately 23 and a half feet by 15 ft!

We are finishing up some basement renovation and we expect in mid May to have a space ready in the basement that measures approximately 2,500 square feet!

There are two more locations in the basement that should have a final square footage of about 1100 ft each, or if you need roughly 2,200 square feet, we can leave it undivided.

There are also suites above the first floor, five in total, all of which need varying degrees of completion before they are move-in ready.

All of your utilities including internet are paid for by the building. If you choose to have a separate internet connection that is up to you. We do background check and vet our potential space sharing folks. We do require a security deposit as well as first month's rent (prorated for the day you sign the lease).

We look forward to giving you a place to call home and to help your business and downtown Spencer grow!

Come talk to Kevin at the building, located at 414 Grand avenue in downtown Spencer or send us a message here if you are curious! We can set up an appointment to discuss details!

As we are getting ready to finalize a pair of offices above Grand, we are rehabilitating several of the light fixtures! ...
11/11/2025

As we are getting ready to finalize a pair of offices above Grand, we are rehabilitating several of the light fixtures! Most of these fixtures are from the 1950s or 1960s and they had a ton of character to the space. Hard part about using them is that we have to get very creative as to where we are locating them because upstairs was kind of a mismatch of lighting between fixtures from the late 70s or early 80s and stuff that may very well be 60 or even 70 years old!

We are meticulously taking these fixtures apart, stripping the paint off of the metal and we are going to be repainting them with a modern enamel so they fit the vibe of the building!

People who rent spaces upstairs are of course encouraged to retain that vibe, though we do understand that they may not be everybody's cup of tea. We can't maintain these original fixtures throughout the entirety of upstairs because we simply don't have them, but we are going to do what we can with what we've got!

We are expecting two of the 425 square foot suites to be available in January, with a third slightly smaller suite available soon after that! There are two larger spaces up there, one that is almost 900 square feet that we have a special plan in mind and another space that is about 850 square feet that is going to take the most work to rehabilitate, but we are hoping to get that completed before summer!

11/10/2025

We are losing one of our small corner locations! Rune and Root has decided to move off to another adventure. That means we have a location right in our front window that might just be perfect for you!

Not only that but we are working diligently on our basement locations underneath Game State and we almost have two spaces rehabilitated in the offices above the main level! We still have some work to go on all of that, but things are shaping up really nicely, and will continue to improve!

If you are looking for a 600 square foot office above Grand, a 350 square foot space right along Grand, or up to a 3000 square foot basment space, let us know ASAP!

And the more work we get done in the building, the faster we can rehabilitate the other spaces!

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The Bitter Cauldron has some new signage up on the outside of the building with more updates to come inside! Check out t...
09/21/2024

The Bitter Cauldron has some new signage up on the outside of the building with more updates to come inside! Check out their page to see what Sara and Morgan can do for your custom shirts, candles, soaps, and all kinds of custom items!

Thanks to SS Collision & Graphics for another awesome job on Grand Avenue and for retouching the Game State sign while you were here!

06/21/2024

With Game State occupying the largest part of the building and The Bitter Cauldron sharing that main floor space with us, and please to announce that we have a new tenant setting up in the basement! Not only that but a second tenant in the basement is in the cards for the near future, as well as another space sharing business and the other front window across from The Bitter Cauldron!

We have started to undertake some huge restoration projects for this glorious old building! The next big project we're tackling is power for the second floor! Using those old commercial spaces for modern tenants has been a dream for us since we first laid eyes on that second floor! Johnson Electric is going to start work on that for us!

There's still a long way to go. We have a ton of projects on going right now, and renovations aren't going to go quickly, but they will be progressing continuously, especially with more tenants added to the mix!

05/29/2024

The Bitter Cauldron is expending their space! They've had a fantastic first six months!

If you haven't stopped in to visit them, you should, but you're going to have to wait just a little bit... They are reconfiguring their space and it will be closed until Friday.

But, if you need custom t-shirts, koozies, water bottles, or dozens of other custom products, they are your spot to visit!

Please excuse the mess as we expand their space in the Glass Block Building!

We received these pictures today! This is the building from when it was a shared space between Montgomery Ward and JC Pe...
05/21/2024

We received these pictures today! This is the building from when it was a shared space between Montgomery Ward and JC Penney before Penney's took over the whole building!

If anyone can date the pictures, we'd love more information! The cars should be the best clues!

Edited: And we have it! Between the license plates and the Chevy, it's 1946/47!

11/25/2023

Today is the Grand opening of The Bitter Cauldron at 414 Grand! Stop on in and see what they have to offer!

It's been a long summer, but we're ushering in fall with some great news!The Bitter Cauldron is taking up residence in t...
11/05/2023

It's been a long summer, but we're ushering in fall with some great news!

The Bitter Cauldron is taking up residence in the front window of the main floor of the building, sharing space with Game State!

The two owners are long-time patrons of the game store and specialize in making custom tshirts, coffee/water tumblers, notebooks, and other products! They'll be getting set up in the main floor over the next few weeks and we're happy to usher them in to the space! Congratulations, Sara and Morgan!

05/13/2023

Thanks again to Spencer Main Street for putting on the Upstairs Downtown Tour!

We had a blast showing off the building and we're looking forward to finishing up these beautiful commercial spaces and getting them rented!

With the warmer weather, Kevin has been back working upstairs! The Spencer Main Street Downtown Upstairs Tour this Satur...
05/12/2023

With the warmer weather, Kevin has been back working upstairs! The Spencer Main Street Downtown Upstairs Tour this Saturday has provided a good shot of energy to get things kicked into gear!

We still are waiting to get power restored up in the offices, and we are in talks to get a new heat pump installed for maximizing the heating and cooling efficiency. That process is going....slow.

But, Kevin will be giving the tour this coming Saturday, May 13 from 10 to noon! Hit the Downtown Upstairs Tour event link above and get the details! In the mean time, have a teaser as we're cleaning!

03/03/2023

Two steps forward, one step back.

We've been consulting with electricians about the power situation upstairs. Right now, the service that goes upstairs for power is insufficient for what we need. We had kind of quietly been fearing that that might be the case. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it is one that needs to be fixed so that we can keep going forward on the building.

In the meantime, there are plenty of projects we can keep working on, and we have ways to work around the lack of power up there for running tools in the meantime. We can keep working until we get a new electric line laid in, we should have an opportunity for a better heat distribution center (which is a huge positive), and we will still be on schedule for when our first tenants are planning on moving in!

Address

414 Grand Avenue
Spencer, IA
51301

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