by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The United States Postal Service is running out of time to find a new location downtown.
At the end of May, the General Services Administration plans to terminate the assignment for the Post Office currently located in the old federal courthouse. Unless another site is located soon — and they can move into it — the USPS may not have a downtown presence for several weeks.
“It looks like the federal agencies will be out by June 1 and they will convey the courthouse to us around mid-June,” said Brad Thoburn, director of Intergovernmental Relations for the City.
Nearly two years ago, Thoburn entered into negotiations with GSA regarding the City obtaining the old federal courthouse, which will be incorporated into the new $211 million county courthouse complex and serve as the offices for the State Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices. In exchange for the courthouse, GSA is getting use of over 100 parking spaces in the Water Street garage for the next 20 years.
“We are currently working with GSA on the parking lease and the issues with it,” said Thoburn. “It’s not an issue and there are not any problems. We are on schedule with GSA.”
The same can’t be said about the Postal Service.
Originally, GSA and the City asked the Postal Service to be out of the federal courthouse by April 1. When another suitable downtown location could not be found by then, that deadline was extended, at the very most, to June 30. With the current May 31 deadline looming, the Postal Service will have to make some quick decisions and a move soon. And, neither GSA nor the City is in any position to help or negotiate any type of short-term lease.
“We will not own the courthouse June 1,” explained Thoburn. “We will not until we get the paperwork done. The City is not in a position to do a lease with them [the Postal Service].”
The GSA agrees the postal issue isn’t something they can help remedy.
“Our documents indicate the USPS can make arrangements to stay in the courthouse [for a few weeks],” said Gary Mote, public information officer for the GSA. “We’ve gone through the proper channels and notified the Post Office.”
According to GSA Senior Real Estate Specialist Pam Murphy, by the end of May all the federal judges and staff will have relocated to the new federal courthouse, leaving the Postal Service as the only tenant in the building. Murphy indicated GSA cannot operate the building with one tenant at a cost of $60,000, a figure that does not include security costs.
Downtown Development Authority managing director Al Battle said he had no idea what efforts the Postal Service was making to find another location in the downtown core and added the issue wasn’t necessarily something the DDA would get involved with. The Postal Service hasn’t sought any type of incentives and minimal DDA site location assistance.
No one from the Postal Service could be reached for comment.