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The historic building, once a distribution center for Ben Franklin stores, covers an entire block at Olive and 18th streets.

Cassidy Turley, the real estate company marketing the structure, is floating the idea of redoing the eight-story building as 342 apartments. Included in the plan is garage parking for nearly 400 vehicles, retail spaces and even a two-story penthouse addition.

Mike Hanrahan, a senior managing director at Cassidy Turley, said the building’s owner had yet to set a firm asking price but added that it would likely be about $18 million.

City records show that Sovereign Partners, a privately held real estate investment company in New York, bought the building in 2007 for nearly $13.4 million. A Sovereign Partners representative did not return a call Thursday.

The Butler Brothers building is in a corridor of residential growth that is creeping westward from Tucker Boulevard. Recent redevelopment examples in the area include the Plaza Square apartments and the Leather Trades artist lofts.

Hanrahan said Cassidy Turley is getting inquiries from potential buyers locally and nationally.

“The level of interest is strong,� he said. “Obviously, residential (development) downtown has really taken off on the rental side. We think this is a logical continuation of that corridor and that it’s going to continue to fill in.�

The project could include apartments in a variety of sizes and rental rates, said Hanrahan, adding that a hotel might also be considered.

“The market will determine what gets done,� he said.

The building already has garage parking for about 200 vehicles on the ground floor and in the basement. Preliminary plans call for boosting the count to 497 spaces by adding parking on the second floor.

For now, the only tenant is a commercial photography studio. The photographer, Brian Cummings, said Thursday he is prepared to relocate, if necessary, but would try to remain downtown, where many of his clients are located.

Opened in 1906, the building has 718,660 square feet of space. In comparison, the empty Jefferson Arms on Tucker Boulevard and Locust Street has about 550,000 square feet.

The Butler Brothers building is among 55 commercial structures in the Washington Avenue Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result, the building’s renovation is eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

Mauran, Russell & Garden, a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ architecture firm, designed the concrete-frame building sheathed in red brick with terra cotta trim. It housed the Butler Brothers Wholesale Department Store and Merchandise Co., which operated as a mail-order catalog wholesaler.

In 1927, Butler Brothers opened the first Ben Franklin store, an early retail franchise, and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ building functioned as a regional warehouse for the well-known retail chain, which eventually went bankrupt in 1996.