News: Post Office Post-Mortem
For a cool $2.4 million, Somerville’s former Post Office in the heart of Union Square – and all its accompanying controversy – can be yours.
“Within walking distance to the MBT A’s Orange Line, 237 Washington Street provides excellent visibility, accessibility and an outstanding traffic count. The building has served as the Somerville Post Office since the 1930s,” tempts the advertising on uspspropertiesforsale.com.
But the Union Square property continues to incite debate, speculation and federal review – partially focused on the Ross Moffett mural located in the lobby, whether the USPS was lax in following Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the lack of outcry from public officials around the sale and claims that closure of the office has affected postal service in the city.
“The carriers are now working out of Chelsea Carrier Annex and are expected to use the same amount of hours despite the extra travel time,” said a postal worker who did not wish to be named, commenting on the recent delivery disruptions in Somerville. “Work is rushed and careless errors are being made.”
Opened at 18 Bow St. in April 2014, the replacement post office was leased to the USPS by leading Curtatone campaign contributor and attorney Richard DiGirolamo. But the new office lacks parking space for trucks, which is why Somerville’s mail delivery is being handled from Chelsea.
The lease, signed in June of 2013, means the USPS will operate from the 18 Bow St. location for a decade or more. But even prior to the closing, elected officials were relatively quiet regarding the closing of the city’s long standing main post office compared to similar cases throughout Massachusetts and beyond. In Berkeley, Calif., accusations that the USPS abridged their NHPA responsibilities caused city council members to vote unanimously to try to stop the sale. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates wrote a letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
“We urge the council in its section 106 reviews of proposed USPS sales nationwide, to insist on maintaining historic post offices in their historic use unless USPS and the local community agree that such use is not feasible,” wrote Bates.
And yet in Somerville, the Mayor and Aldermen were surprisingly subdued, ignoring the successful efforts in Dorchester, Newton, and Watertown in 2011 to save their historic post offices from elimination.
After nearly 80 years in operation, the closure comes at an interesting time for both the USPS and the City with Union Square’s pending redevelopment making both property ownership and influence in the square hot commodities.
Jim Hickey, a real estate specialist with the Postal Service’s New England Facilities Service Office, cited reliance on email and overall recession as two of the looming factors contributing to sales of such historic post offices. Given its property value, the Union Square location was a natural choice for the chopping block in terms of turning a profit.
Given the importance of the property, the silence on the part of city officials has raised questions over the ethicality of the closure and sale process and what role the site may play in the D-5 parcel in Union Square redevelopment plans.
Alderman-at-Large William White said if the plan had been to simply close the Union Square Post Office instead of relocating it, there would have been more resistance.
“You would have seen a tremendous outcry in the city similar to Post Office the outcry in Uphams Corner or Newton or Watertown,” said White in an email.
The city’s elected officials have known about the sale of the post office from the outset.
“The postal service did identify the city as a consulting party,” said to Dann Demaina, new media manager for the City of Somerville. Demaina said he believed that Curtatone would like to see the building turned into a community or arts center.
The Postal Service has promised any sale of the building contingent upon one day of public access a month to the mural, a number that has incited debate among the public and federal review by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
“It is the opinion of the ACHP that the covenant presented does not adequately ensure the long-term preservation of the property’s historic significance and is therefore insufficient to justify the USPS’s finding of no adverse effect,” wrote Reid Nelson, director of the Office of Federal Agency Programs.
Somerville’s aldermen have asked for the USPS to stipulate 300 days of public access to the mural and, in light of the letters coming from the fed, for the sale of the building to be suspended.
For now, the Postal Service has been given a stop work order by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which they have yet to respond to despite a senate appropriations bill that mentions they should desist in selling historic properties without regard to their preservation.
“If the USPS maintains its finding of no adverse effect in this case, it must prepare a summary of its decision that contains the rationale for the decision and evidence of consideration of the ACHP’s opinion … prior to proceeding with the undertaking,” wrote Daniel Delahaye, a Federal Preservation Officer with the USPS.
The city has also recommended that the sale of the post office be postponed until disagreements over how to handle the historic nature of the post office and the mural can be settled.
“It appears that the USPS did not begin the Section 106 process until it was ready to sell the building,” wrote Michael Glavin, executive director of the mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. “In addition, the City of Somerville requests that the ACHP consider whether the USPS properly considered alternatives to selling the building and whether the proper consultation process was followed.”
Whoever is responsible for the decision to sell, Somerville’s mail delivery continues to pay the price.
