Here’s what that huge SOLD sign on Wellesley Square’s Stuart Swan building is all about

The historic Hathaway House building at 103 Central St., in Wellesley Square that houses Stuart Swan Furniture and a handful of business/professional offices has been acquired by Harbinger Development, known in part for numerous hotel projects in Boston. The big red SOLD sign (not the first such big sign used by Stuart Swan over the years) grabbed attention over the weekend during the July Jubilation sidewalk sale.

While the 40-plus-year-old furniture business will be selling off its goods at series discounts during a post-Labor Day moving sale, plans are for the other tenants to stay and for new professional and retail ones to move in. Among them will be an office for Harbinger, says managing partner Eamon O’Marah.

O’Marah raved about the building’s “fantastic condition” and structural soundness, and is appreciative of “its great history as a book store” (it once housed the Hathaway House Bookshop).

The 1830-ish Hathaway House is the oldest building standing on Central Street, according to local historian Josh Dorin.

Stuart and Georgette Swan will be moving to Williamsburg, Va., where they will continue with their design business, serving customers located as far away as Palm Beach and Camden, Maine. “We are not going out of business; this is a move and little slower pace,” Stuart says.