The former Younkers building downtown could soon be sold to a company based just outside Washington, D.C.

Kirk Blunck of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture said his firm is working on conceptual drawings for New Market Investors LLC. Jeff Spence, a sales associate with CB Richard Ellis/Hubbell Commercial who is handling the deal, confirmed that the building is under contract to be bought but said the deal has not yet closed.

Michael Alexander, managing director of New Market Investors, said the redevelopment would likely include a hotel, apartments, commercial and retail, along with historic preservation of the building.

“We have met with a number of folks in leadership positions in the city and have confirmed that anything we do, if we close on the acquisition, will be in concert with and in promotion of the long-term vision the city leadership has for the downtown area,” he said in an e-mail.

The price for the building was slashed to $2.45 million last spring. Younkers closed operations at 713 Walnut St. nearly three years ago.

HLKB started to work on plans a week ago, and Blunck said he hopes to have some options available in the next 90 days. His firm worked on the Younkers building renovation in the late 1970s.

Alexander is originally from Omaha and has family in Iowa. He said he has followed the building’s status for several years.