Reno council to buy downtown post office

Reno council to buy downtown post office
By Susan Voyles • svoyles@rgj.com • August 28, 2008

After decades of talk, the U.S. Post Office is being purchased by the city for $5.1 million for a redevelopment project in the downtown Reno river district. The Reno City Council on Wednesday approved a purchase agreement expected to be finalized before Oct. 1.

"This has been something the city has wanted for many years," Mayor Bob Cashell said.

The building designed by famed Reno architect Frederic DeLongchamps in a post Art Deco, ZigZag Moderne style was completed in 1934. The city has agreed to restore the building in compliance with federal standards for historic properties. A series of public workshops would help define how the building should be restored for a museum, restaurants, entertainment or other uses. The 32,851 square feet includes an interior atrium hidden from public view. A plaza along the river is under design.

"It gives the people another access point to the river. That will draw a lot more people into that part of downtown," said Mark Lewis, Reno Redevelopment Agency administrator.

The Postal Service would retain a small retail office in the building at 50 S. Virginia St. The Postal Service has up to four years to move to a new building on Morrill Avenue, just north of the city's old fire house, near East Fourth Street. Lewis said the move could happen in about two years. The city holds an option to buy the land from the Destiny Center for $1.85 million and is to turn that option over to the post office.

Postal authorities would use the $5.1 million to purchase the Destiny property and build a new facility for postal carriers and administrative offices. The city would sell bonds backed by federal community block grants to but the building. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given preliminary approval for that use of the grants.

The city would reorient the front of the building to the Truckee River and build a plaza leading to the water. A final design will be presented to the council before the end of the year. Lewis expects construction to start next summer.

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