EVERETT — The main post office in Everett is a bit closer to moving, although a date still has not been set.
A sign listing the building for sale recently went up, and the U.S. Postal Service is looking for a smaller space to serve as the city’s main facility.
The move depends on when the Postal Service finds a new building, spokesman Ernie Swanson said.
“We had four tentative offers for a replacement location. None of them completely meet our criteria, so we’re continuing to look,” Swanson said.
The Postal Service is looking for approximately 12,000 square feet of space, with ample parking and a loading dock.
The current building at 3102 Hoyt Ave. is about 45,000 square feet.
When the building it was new, the style was thought to be modern. It was dedicated on June 28, 1964. U.S. Sen. Henry M. Jackson, Everett Mayor Bud Alexander and Everett Postmaster Sam Manus were in attendance to mark the occasion, according to the Herald archives.
The building stands on the site of the former Jefferson School, a Romanesque building built in 1894 which was the first brick school on Everett’s “Bayside,” the informal name for the neighborhood west of Broadway.
“It was some of the finest architecture in the community,” said David Dilgard, a historian with the Everett Public Library.
Designed by architects C. Ferris White and William Moller, it cost $26,000 to build and survived until it was demolished to make way for the new post office.
“We got a somewhat nondescript building to replace it,” Dilgard said.
Until 1964, the main Everett post office was located in the Federal Building at 3006 Colby Ave., a Greco-Roman Revival building now occupied by Chicago Title Co. That building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The USPS has been downsizing in an effort to get its costs under control. The federal agency lost $5 billion in 2013 and nearly $16 billion in 2012, and increased the price of a first class stamp this year to 49 cents.
In the agency’s third fiscal quarter of 2014, which ended June 30, it lost $2 billion. It has lost money in 21 of the past 23 quarters, the exceptions being when it was allowed to reschedule its required retiree health care contributions.
Under a 2006 law, the USPS is required to fully fund retiree health benefits for its entire workforce in advance, to the tune of $5.5 billion-$5.8 billion per year through 2016.
Consolidating its facilities has been part of the agency’s cost-containment strategy.
The USPS still has a retail operation at Paine Field Station, at 2201 100th St. SW, but it is considering moving its mail carriers to a building it owns on Hardeson Road, Swanson said.
The Hardeson Road facility was downsized in 2012 when the USPS consolidated mail processing operations in Seattle. Nearly 100 workers were laid off.
At the same time, the USPS is awaiting the construction of a new building near its Edmonds station, located at 7601 Olympic View Drive. The services will move into that building when it’s completed, Swanson said.
When the downtown Everett station closes, it is expected that retail services will remain unchanged.
“There may be some shifting of personnel but no layoffs are planned,” Swanson said.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald
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