GREENFIELD - A Northampton developer has signed a buy-sell agreement for three long-vacant Bank Row buildings seen as key to Greenfield's downtown rejuvenation.

The Greenfield Redevelopment Authority took the three buildings by eminent domain earlier this year and now hopes to sell them to the developer who opened the Iron Horse Music Hall in 1979 and has redeveloped at least five buildings in Northampton.

Jordi Herold, 54, has been exploring the purchase of the Allen Block, which houses a Bank of America ATM on the corner of Bank Row and Main Street, the former Ray's Café building and the office building just south of the café.

Herold could not be reached Thursday for comment. He said earlier this year he would like to create retail space at street level and a mix of office and living space on the upper floors, which falls in line with the Urban Renewal Plan and the town's $20 million upper-floor redevelopment project.

"This is the first time in 50 or 60 years that there's been these many changes in ownership (downtown) and it's exciting," GRA Chairman William Martin said Thursday.

"How amazing that in economic times like these, there's so much activity in the downtown," said Martin.

Herold, who grew up in New York City and moved to the area when he was in high school, graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst. He was a co-founder of the Iron Horse Music Hall, which he no longer owns.

As of last summer, he owned two blocks on Main Street and one off Pleasant Street in Northampton.

"Our goal has always been to find a redeveloper with compatible goals and the expertise to meet those goals," said Martin. "This will rejuvenate the Urban Renewal District."

Martin said Herold will pay the appraised value on all of the buildings.

According to town records, the Allen Block is assessed at $223,100, the former Ray's Café building at $109,100 and the office building at $68,500.

The upper-floor redevelopment project will include revamping at least a dozen buildings located on Bank Row and Main and Federal streets. It will create living and office space, as well as retail, and is expected to provide state and federal tax credits to building owners to help with up to 50 percent of the cost of redevelopment.