(NVR) - Downtown Napa is in play.

A flurry of commercial properties in the city center have recently been listed for sale or sold, including Napa Square, the Fagiani’s building, two spaces under the Andaz hotel, the north side of the Copia property, the Napa Register block and the historic post office building.

You can add the Quintessential building at Second and Randolph streets to that list. The corner property is for sale for $3.75 million.

Originally a bank branch for World Savings and later Wachovia, the property is currently home to wine wholesaler and importer Quintessential Wines.

“We’ve grown to a point where we need more space,” said Dennis Kreps, co-owner at Quintessential.

Kreps said the company originally fit into the 4,500-square-foot property, but today “we’re bursting at the seams.” The business has 65 employees nationally, 10 to 12 in Napa, and is “growing quickly.”

Realtors and brokers say that it’s a good time to sell, with both prices and interest in downtown Napa on the rise.

“Improvements are being added at a very fast clip” around the city, said Mark Lesti of Windermere Napa Valley, the broker for the 12,000-square-foot property. “We continue to be an extremely highly desirable city,” he said. “People know the future is going to be brighter. And prices continue to rise, especially for well-located downtown properties.”

“I think that the market is ready for this kind of activity,” said Realtor and developer Michael C. Holcomb. “There is a lot of development going on. Sellers are recognizing it’s a good opportunity. Interest rates are still low and Napa has a lot of planned growth.”

Kreps said Quintessential had drawn up plans to add about 1,000 square feet and renovate the space, which was built in 1956, “but before we made the final decision to start the remodel, we thought we’d gauge the interest to see if it made more sense to just sell the building and find another space.”

The company bought the property for around $965,000 about five years ago, said Kreps.

“We moved in when there was nothing going on downtown,” he recalled. “It was big leap of faith, a stretch, but it served our purposes perfectly."

He prefers not to leave downtown. “It’s an incredible location,” said Kreps. “It’s very busy, it’s vibrant; there is a ton of foot traffic.”

"We love the building, but I don’t think we were best utilizing the space,” he said. The property is ideally suited to a retail or consumer-driven business and Quintessential doesn’t rely on consumer foot traffic.

If the building does sell, Quintessential would likely move to larger offices in Napa Valley Commons corporate park or near the airport.

“We have our eye on spaces on both locations,” he said. However, "If we don’t get what we are looking for, we will stay where we are and start the remodel.”

Kreps commented on the number of other commercial properties for sale in the city center. “I think downtown is hopping,” he said, mentioning an increase in traffic, the construction of the Archer hotel and new tenants planned for the former Town Center.

As for the Quintessential building, “There has been some indicated interest but no offer in hand yet,” Lesti said. The asking price of $3.75 million is “higher than some and lower than other” commercial properties on the market, said Lesti.