NORTHAMPTON — The iconic downtown building that once housed the First National Bank of Northampton may soon be under new ownership, as the Perlman family, which owns the business, considers relocating the Silverscape Designs jewelry store.
A commercial listing on the Goggins Real Estate website lists the 1 King St. building — which is approximately 8,000 square feet and known for its grand architecture and time and temperature display that overlooks the city center — for sale at $2 million.
“I’m not getting younger, and a lot of things have happened,” Wallace Perlman, a part owner of Silverscape Designs, said on the decision to place the building for sale. “We just decided that as we continue to run Silverscape, which is our intent at this point, we don’t need to be in this grand palace that we’re in.”
Perlman said that he and his family hope to remain in the downtown Northampton area if they move to a new location.
Silverscape Designs founder, Denis Perlman, opened the jewelry store in 1976 in Amherst and added a Northampton location at 3 Pleasant St. in 1985. In 1993, he moved from Pleasant Street to the King Street building, which he bought from Fleet Bank and restored to suit his jewelry store. Denis died in a single-engine plane crash in 2000, and his three siblings and two of their children have continued the business in the nearly 20 years that have followed.
The Amherst store closed in 2012, which Wallace Perlman said was due to the location’s proximity to Northampton.
If the building sells, staffing and service at the jewelry store will remain the same, said Jane Merrill, Silverscape’s general manager.
Although the Perlman family is considering a new location, Merrill does not view moving the store as the likely outcome.
“We plan on staying with the building, and the people who are looking at us want us to stay in the building,” Merrill said Wednesday.
“We’ve been in business for 43 years, and most of the team has been here 20, 25, 30 years, and we will continue operating the way that we have been,” she said. “The same staff is here, will remain here, and our vision is still to provide the best craftsmanship and jewelry for our customers.”
In a follow-up interview on Wednesday afternoon, Perlman acknowledged that the store’s relocation remains uncertain.
Perlman said that “the only thing that’s been decided is that we’re going to try to sell the building,” and that his family intends to keep the business going.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.