How Will You Add to the History of This Building?
Online Auction
308 S. Main Street, Anna, Illinois 62906
Begins to End: April 9, 2026 • Thursday • 2:00 PM
Call us today to schedule a showing 1-800-272-9791
Offered at online auction — Thursday, April 9, 2026, beginning to end at 2:00 PM CST — 308 S. Main Street in Anna, Illinois is over 7,500 square feet of brick commercial space on a US Highway corridor in the heart of downtown Anna, with 8,950 vehicles passing the front door every single day. The building needs some TLC. What it offers in return is a location, a footprint, and a set of bones that most people spend years trying to find.
Picture What This Could Be
Before the specs and the room dimensions — think about what this address in Anna, Illinois could look like two years from now with the right person behind it. Then keep reading.
If You Have the Budget to Do It Right
The Anchor Restaurant
Update the equipment, refinish the floors, and reopen the Brick House as a full-service dinner restaurant — the kind downtown Anna has been missing. The bar area is already laid out. The dining room holds a crowd. The prep room and dishwashing space are already there. You are not building a customer base from scratch. You are inviting people back to a place they already love. Open on a Thursday and see what happens.
The Event and Entertainment Venue
First floor: a private event facility — weddings, corporate dinners, fundraisers, holiday parties. Bar, kitchen, dining rooms, and a meeting room that already knows how to hold a crowd. Second floor: open it up. Forty feet wide, sixty-nine feet long, 10 ft ceilings — that is a concert venue, a dance floor, a market hall. Anna and the surrounding communities have been driving to Carbondale and Cape for events for years. Give them a reason to stay home.
The Mixed-Use Redevelopment
First floor commercial — restaurant, retail, or professional space. Second floor residential — convert the open Teen Town floor into apartments with character no new construction can touch: brick walls, high ceilings, downtown address. The rental income funds the renovation. The commercial tenant anchors the block. Five years from now this building is the reason people point to when they talk about Anna’s downtown and what it is becoming.
If You Have More Vision Than Budget Right Now
Start Small, Build Toward It
You do not have to open everything on day one. The first floor is built out — focus there first. Give it some TLC and open the bar and the front dining room. A bar and grill with a limited menu and a room that already has character does not require a full renovation budget. It requires showing up and being consistent. Let the building do the work it already knows how to do while you save for the next phase.
The Pop-Up and Rental Model
You are not ready to run a restaurant — but someone else is. Clean it up and rent the space to pop-up chefs, weekend markets, private event renters, and community organizations. Anna does not have a dedicated event space. You do not need a full staff or a full kitchen to be the person who provides one. Charge by the day. Let the building cover its own costs while you build toward something bigger.
The Creative or Maker Space
B-1 zoning opens more doors than most people realize. A boutique retail shop in the front room. A maker space or studio upstairs. A specialty food concept in the back. The footprint supports multiple revenue streams under one roof.
What You Are Actually Getting
Walk through it before April 9th. Know what you are buying. Then bid with confidence.
Tax ID: 14-00-08-142
2024 Real Estate Taxes: $1,978.52 (paid)
Zoning: B-1 — Central Business District (Commercial)
Year Built: Circa 1885 (per 2006 listing; not confirmed in county records)
Total Square Footage: Approx. 7,520 sq ft
1st Floor: 4,760 sq ft | Ceiling Height 13 ft
2nd Floor: 2,760 sq ft | Ceiling Height 10 ft
Lot Dimensions: 41 x 132 (0.124± acres)
Construction: Brick (Shared Walls)
Roof: Flat & Sloping
Frontage/Access: City Street, Alley Access, US Highway, Public Road
Traffic Count: 8,950 vehicles per day
First Floor — Rooms and Dimensions:
• Bar Area — 20 x 38
• Front Room / Common Meeting Room — 21 x 33
• Main Dining Room — 20 x 35
• Dining Room Storage — 20 x 13 and 8 x 13
• Kitchen — 20 x 21
• Prep Room — 19 x 29
• Dish/Wash Room — 15 x 8
• Soda Room / Storage — 8 x 13
• Women’s Restroom — 7 x 6
• Men’s Restroom — 7 x 6
• Hall One — 4 x 12
• Hall Two — 5 x 13 and 12 x 5
• Utility / Ice Room — 7 x 8
• Back Room / Office — 20 x 19 plus side areas
• Loft — 40 x 19
Second Floor — Former Teen Town:
• Main Open Area — 40 x 69 (10 ft ceilings; two restrooms present — not in service)
• Sloping Metal Roof Addition — 40 x 50 (best suited for storage)
Systems and Features:
• Gas Furnace | Central Air | Circuit Breakers
• 2 Gas Hot Water Heaters | 2 Sump Pumps
• Public Utilities (Water, Sewer, Gas)
• Private Restroom | 2 Public Restrooms (1st Floor)
• Alley Access | Free Public Parking (Paved)
Disclosures: We want you to bid with your eyes open. The kitchen hood leaks in heavy rain. The grease trap needs cleaning about every six months. The second-floor restrooms have not been in service since the Teen Town days. This property is sold AS IS, WHERE IS — inspect it, know what you are getting, then bid with confidence.
Where This Building Has Been
This building has earned its place on this block several times over. Among its chapters was a P.N. Hirsch & Co. department store on the first floor — the kind of place a whole county came to for what they needed. Upstairs at the same time came Teen Town: the 1950s and ’60s, the music, a whole generation of Union County kids who grew up on that second floor. The stories from those years are still closely held. As the saying went, what happened at Teen Town stayed at Teen Town. The ’50s and ’60s had more fun than they get credit for.
Then came Julie and Tricia and the Brick House Grill. Baby showers. Christmas parties. Pre-theater dinners. The kind of place where families from out of town sat down and were impressed. On a cold January day after a funeral, the soup was warm and the room was warmer. The ladies stayed busy feeding our bodies and our souls, and this community was better for it.
Somewhere along the way, someone pressed a dollar into the brick wall of the dining room. It stayed. Children started tucking coins into the mortar while their families ate. Julie and Tricia gathered the money and gave it to charity. They are still finding it in the walls. We ask that it stay where it is.
That is where this building has been. Where it goes next is up to whoever bids on April 9th.
Directions: From the 4-way stop in downtown Anna (the intersection of Main Street and Vienna/Davie Street), head South on South Main Street for approximately 0.1 mile. The property is located on the East side of the street (Left).
Call us today to schedule a showing 1-800-272-9791
Sellers: Julie Hopkins and Patricia Aydelott
Abbreviated Real Estate Auction Terms: Successful bidder(s) will be required to enter into a written contract and deposit earnest money of 10% of the contract price. Balance due on or before May 21, 2026. Seller shall provide Owner’s Policy of Title Insurance and execute a Warranty Deed. Possession will be given on the date of closing. A ten percent (10%) buyer’s premium will apply to the high bid to establish the contract price. Make your financial arrangements prior to the auction. This auction is not contingent on financing, appraisal, survey, or inspections of any kind. Potential buyers may conduct inspections by scheduling an appointment prior to auction. Property sold AS IS, WHERE IS.