A Wilmington-based law firm plans to relocate its office from Eastwood Road corridor to downtown Wilmington.
 
Justin K. Humphries, principal attorney with Humphries & King PC, said in an email Tuesday that his firm purchased the former May-Willson House at 616 Princess St. in downtown Wilmington.
 
The firm is currently housed at 2018 Eastwood Road in far east Wilmington near Mayfaire and Landfall. 
 
Officials closed on the 1,350-square-foot building on May 21 for $224,000, according to New Hanover County tax records.
 
Humphries said in an email that the firm is relocating downtown to “access the downtown market and accommodate recent growth at his firm.”
 
Cody Cress and Tyler Pegg, founder and co-founder, respectively, of Wilmington-based The CRESS Group of Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners, represented the seller during the transaction.
 
Christian Cardamone, a broker with Wilmington-based Coastal Properties, represented the buyers.
 
The May-Willson House was first constructed in 1850, according to the Wilmington Historic Foundation.
 
According to its historical marker, the Italianate style cottage was built by Captain Alexander May, a French sea captain and wholesale grocer. It was later sold in 1878 to William Willson, the former superintendent of Chadbourn's Lumber Mill, and his wife,  Sarah, who renovated house around 1885.
 
The home remained in the Willson family until 1978, when it was purchased and later converted into professional office space.