Developer bids on post office
By BRENDA SCHORY – bschory@kcchronicle.com
GENEVA – The Geneva Post Office should remain where it is, with excess space revamped for commercial use, said developer Joseph Stanton, a downtown businessman and developer who has made an offer.
“The post office needs to downsize to 2,000 square feet,” Stanton said. “If they downsized ... and we put in a bookstore with a coffee shop or maybe a restaurant ... do a deli there. There are so many things you could do that would sort of enhance the area.”
Because of a turn-down in mail use, the U.S. Postal Service officials announced last month they wanted to sell the 72-year-old building for $1.2 million. Officials said they wanted to stay in Geneva’s downtown, but in a smaller venue.
The building is 5,700 square feet with a full basement. Stanton said he offered “way less” than what the post office said it wanted, but he would not say how much.
“The building is in pretty bad shape,” he said. “It’s a very old building. They’ve done a very good job to keep it up, but everything needs to be replaced. Basically, nothing can be kept. It needs a new HVAC system, it has no heat or air conditioning in the basement.”
Stanton owns Fagan’s Graphic Design & Promotion, in addition to other developments and businesses in the city.
U.S. Postal Service spokesman Tim Ratliff said the agency has not accepted any offers on the Geneva Post Office, yet.
“We received different proposals, and we expect to receive them through the month of July,” Ratliff said. “We are still open for bids. Once we accept and finalize an offer, we would release that information.”
Ratliff said the postal service is challenged with a national decline in mail volume of 9.5 billion or 4.5 percent compared to last year. The decline in stamped first-class mail has been more than 30 percent over the last 10 years, he said. Letter carrier operations have not come from that site for 15 years, which adds to the excess of unused space, he said.
The building is historic, having been built by the Works Progress Administration in 1937. Inside is a mural by a famous World War II combat artist, Manuel Bromberg. His 1940 tempera “Fish Fry in the Park,” a 14-by-9-foot mural in tempera, features Island Park. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture paid Bromberg $1,200 to do the mural.
Stanton said he hopes the post office deals with someone local.
“I heard there have been offers from law firms in the city looking at it because the courthouse is right next door,” Stanton said. “It’s crucial that we work out a deal with the post office to stay in that building and keep that painting ... I think it would be huge asset for Geneva.”
Anyone interested in the property is encouraged to call the post office’s consumer affairs number at 630-260-5171.
