by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
It’s taking longer than expected for the City to officially gain control of the old federal courthouse, but that will have no bearing on the United States Postal Service, which has an office in the courthouse that they must vacate by June 30.
The City was supposed to take over ownership of the courthouse April 1 and planned to give the USPS — whose lease in the old federal courthouse expired Dec. 31 — a few extra months to relocate or vacate downtown altogether. However, the General Services Administration is taking longer to move its employees and judges out of the old federal courthouse and into the new U.S. Courthouse across the street.
“When we were noticed by the GSA that they were delayed in moving into the new courthouse, we told the post office they had to be out by June 30,” said Sam Mousa, chief administrative officer for the City. “That was the absolute latest date and that’s still the latest date.”
Mousa said there was little consideration given to extending the post office’s deadline mainly because the City has a strict start date for demolition and construction on the old federal courthouse, which will serve as offices for the State Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices in the new $211 million county courthouse complex. Although the April 1 date for ownership will likely pass, Mousa said July 1 is almost imperative.
“We’re hoping to have it no later than July 1 because we want to start construction immediately,” said Mousa, adding immediately meant as early as July 2. “We have a lot of demolition to do and asbestos abatement.”
The delay doesn’t bode well for the USPS, which is in the process of looking for either an alternate site or a contractor to handle postal services in the immediate downtown area. Joe Wazniak, acting manager of administrative services in the USPS Jacksonville office, said a solicitation for proposal was sent out in late December. Originally, those proposals were due Jan. 4. However, Wazniak expects that deadline to be extended for two reasons: one, the solicitation wasn’t legally noticed and, two, because the proposal time line encompassed the Christmas and New Year’s holiday, the chances of getting many back are slim.
“The solicitation never hit the paper and the ad was not placed, so the deadline will probably be extended,” said Wazniak.
The USPS is considering two ideas. They are currently looking for space to rent downtown that would accommodate post office boxes, general postal needs and have at least 63 parking spaces. Or, a business similar to Mail Boxes Etc. could contractually agree to open downtown and provide simple postal services. In this scenario, the USPS would relocate the hundreds of Post Office boxes currently in the old federal courthouse to other USPS locations around town. Either way, the USPS plans to keep a downtown presence, which will be bounded by Union Street on the north, Market Street on the east, the St. Johns River on the south and Broad Street on the west.
Locally, no one has expressed interest in opening a contractual facility, which the USPS would like to sign for 20 years with 2-5 year renewal options.
“I understand there has been some interest in downtown, but not by anyone local,” said Wazniak. “Some companies from out of town have come into town looking for property.”
According to Wazniak, a contractual facility would be the easiest to establish.
“That would streamline the process and we could be open in a couple of months,” he said. “If we lease space to someone who has to build it out, it could take six or seven months.”
Wazniak indicated the City would work with the USPS if a site has to be remodeled and they need until after June 30 to get the work done. Mousa disagreed.
“Because we are delayed in getting the old federal courthouse, it’s even more critical that the post office be out by June 30,” said Mousa.
The City is acquiring the old federal courthouse after reaching an agreement with GSA to swap the building for 104 parking spaces in the Water Street garage.