A downtown building steeped in Longmont history is now on the market for $1.2 million with hopes it could still be a key fixture along Main Street.
The Emerson and Buckingham Bank, 321 Main St., is being sold by Jon and Peg Schallert, who bought the building in 2014 for $389,000. The Schallerts operated The Schallert Group, a destination business training firm, while in the building.
Jon Schallert says the building — which is 4,851 square feet over two floors — is a Longmont landmark. It was the city’s first brick structure that opened for business in 1875 as a bank.
The building still has the wooden rafters that came from the original lumberyard. The rafters include the charcoal writings of the dimensions of the wood, Schallert said.
“You can see the address where the wood was going to and it’s all scrawled right up there in the rafters,” Schallert said.
The Emerson and Buckingham Bank building, 321 Main St., still features the original wood rafters, with charcoal markings from the lumberyard noting their destination.(Photo courtesy of Jon Schallert)The Schallerts renovated the building when they bought it and kept it in prime shape, he said.
“Whether it’s going to be a restaurant or retail space or some other kind of other use, it’s going to be in pristine condition for someone to use,” Schallert said.
The Schallerts used the building for meetings and the company’s “boot camp” to train independent business owners on marketing and other techniques. COVID-19, however, changed the landscape.
“Obviously no one was meeting anymore so we started online training, webinars and other workshops that’ve worked pretty well for us,” he said. “It’s hard to say when we will ever use the space again as we originally intended.”
There have already been offers for the building, Schallert said. “People often peek into the windows all the time. There is a lot of interest in it. They are always asking about it.”
Walter Buckingham, the owner of the bank, bought Longmont’s first fire wagon and uniforms for the fire department after a devastating downtown fire destroyed almost every wood building in the city in 1879, Schallert said.
“There just wasn’t an adequate fire department for the city at the time and Buckingham wanted to change that,” Schallert said. “Buckingham also funded just about every major upgrade in Longmont at the time.”
Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority, said the building has attractive historical stature along with modern amenities.
“I think it could have a ton of uses,” McKee said. “As people come out of COVID, they want a place to meet to do business, while also having easy access to shops and restaurants. This building would be an ideal spot for that.”
The interior of the Emerson and Buckingham Bank building, 321 Main St., after Jon and Peg Schallert renovated it. (Photo courtesy of Jon Schallert)
