EASTHAMPTON — The property at 1 Northampton St. which stands prominently near Pulaski Park at the downtown rotary received no bids at its public auction. Of the roughly 20 individuals gathered on the premises on Friday afternoon, none jumped at the $400,000 starting bid set by the auctioneer.

The 6,840-square-foot building, which sits on about 1 acre of land, was put up for auction by its owners, One Northampton Street Enterprises Inc., and was previously inhabited by The Massage School, which has moved its western Massachusetts operations to Hadley.

Valerie Hood and Alexei Levine, owners of the property and The Massage School, explained to the Gazette that they “loved” being in the building, but that they couldn’t keep up with the maintenance costs it came with. Hood said that this is largely because The Massage School is a social enterprise, which gives proceeds back to its students as scholarship funding.

“The building was built in the 1800s and requires some maintenance that a social enterprise massage school can’t really afford,” said Hood.

Maintenance they had previously completed on the building includes updating the heating system early on in their ownership and replacing windows.

For some time, The Massage School was accompanied by The Art Bar Cafe, a small bar that Hood and Levine had hoped would help supplement costs that The Massage School couldn’t cover. But, Hood said, the city fire code soon changed in a way that would not allow both businesses to operate simultaneously, and The Art Bar Cafe was closed down.

“We loved being here. We hope somebody else comes along and does something wonderful with it,” said Hood.

Sale of the property has been postponed, but Levine said that at least one interested buyer approached the auctioneer after the short auction saying that they didn’t realize the price range would be so high, and that they would have brought a bigger check to bid with, in addition to the $25,000 deposit required at the time of auction. Levine noted that interested buyers could still reach out after learning the price range.

The city collector’s office has recorded the property’s value at $627,800, having paid $8,768 in taxes over the last year.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.