Winter Park still looking at post office
Commissioners to try again to buy federal building
Winter Park commissioners are, once again, attempting to come to a deal with the federal government to purchase the post office next to Central Park, the city’s premier green space along the Park Avenue shopping and dining corridor.
For more than a decade, the city has tried to buy the two-acre property to expand the 11-acre park that is home to the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival only to have negotiations stall over price.
Mayor Steve Leary was the only holdout Monday on a plan to try again by accepting a letter of intent from postal officials that requires the city to pay a $25,000 nonrefundable “project initiation fee” and a $50,000 deposit to cover planning and operation costs by the postal service.
Every commissioner said they support buying the post office, but Leary questioned the timing of using city dollars to pursue a costly deal during the coronavirus pandemic.
A recent appraisal of the property put the value at around $3 million, Leary said, and the city could ultimately spend up to three times what its worth.
“I think this is a very serious stretch,” he said. “I just think it’s money we should not be spending on this, when we have other needs, just to come up to a point where we’re going to be paying a lot of money.”
But other commissioners disagreed.
“I’m in favor of getting behind this cart and pushing as hard as I can go at this point,” Commissioner Todd Weaver said.
Negotiations last broke down in 2014 when postal officials proposed a deal that would have cost the city around $8 million if it had been accepted.
The estimated price tag for a deal this time could increase if there is a need to buy land to house the replacement retail facility the city would be on the hook to build. The post office’s retail and distribution sites have operated since 1963 at 300 N. New York Ave.
But the city’s finances have changed since then, officials said, and the money would come from a special district known as a Community Redevelopment Agency that can use some of the property taxes collected in the shopping and dining hub to improve the area.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan acknowledged the postal service “is not a very easy customer to deal with” but said he supports the effort by City Manager Randy Knight, who has been pushing for a firm total cost before a final agreement can be reached.
It hasn’t been determined what would happen to the post office building, which has a historical designation and an abstract mural on one of its exterior walls.