Three years after its purchase and renovation, one of downtown Florence’s most prominent buildings is once again for sale.
The Parsons Block, at the intersection of Main and Maple streets, hosts several businesses such as A-1 Pizza, the Zen Frog Cafe and Bird’s Store. Patriot Property Management acquired the building for $1.7 million in 2022, and then substantially renovated nine apartment units located on the upper floor. The renovations were completed at the start of 2025.
Now, the West Springfield company has put the building back on the market, hoping to turn a profit on their investment. On listing sites such as Zillow and Realtor.com, the property at 76-96 Maple St. is currently listed for $5.25 million. The building, built in 1894, has 29,400 square feet of space and sits on a 1.8-acre site. The listing is brokered by Lock and Key Realty Inc. of West Springfield.
“We did our investment, and we’re excited to hand it off to the next person,” said Jordan Healy, a manager for Patriot Property. “We feel like it’s an opportune time to pass the torch.”
The Parsons Block building was previously owned by business owner Tim Shea, who died in 2018, passing ownership to a trust benefiting Shea’s four children before it was sold to Patriot Property. The property group subsequently undertook renovation of the apartment units, listing the rents between $1,800 a month for a one-bedroom and $2,500 for a three-bedroom unit. Healy told the Gazette that all of the apartments were now occupied, although a commercial space on the lower floor remained vacant.
The listing comes amid changing development for downtown Florence, with another multistory building under construction across the street that will also feature a mix of housing and businesses, along with newer condominiums and townhouses cropping up in the Northampton village.
Georgianna Brunton, who recently acquired A-1 Pizza in May and also owns Miss Florence Diner, expressed gratitude to Patriot Property for renovating the building, but also expressed uncertainty of what the future may hold under a prospective new owner.
“As a business owner, I think it’s great they’re trying to turn a profit,” Brunton said. “As a renter, it does make me a little nervous.”
Megan Allen runs two businesses within Parsons Block: The Sphere, a women and nonbinary-centered co-working space, and The Community Classroom, an academic tutoring business.
“I found the fact it was up for sale surprising,” Allen said. “We didn’t really have any heads-up about it.”
Allen also said she was in discussion with other business owners in the building to potentially pool their resources to make a bid for the building, running it as a local co-op between the owners.
“That would be the ideal, and it would keep ownership local,” Allen said. “That’s the dream, right? To own your own space.”
Patriot Property has made several other acquisitions in Northampton over the last year, acquiring nine properties for $7.04 million just north of the roundabout at Conz and Pleasant streets near the Interstate 91 entrance and within the city’s Central Business Gateway District.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
