A Bloomington business owner said Monday the downtown post office will move into a portion of his building.
Jamie Mathy, who owns Red Raccoon Games in the 300 block of Main Street, said the U.S. Postal Service has signed a 10-year lease for a third of the building just north of the game store.
The postal station is currently in the Market Street parking deck. The postal service needs a new home for the downtown office because Connect Transit and the City of Bloomington plan to tear down the deck and build a bus transfer station.
Mathy said he lobbied for the business when the post office put out a request to the community seeking community input on where the postal station should go.
“We started a write-in campaign saying, Hey, if you think that our building would be a good location for the new downtown post office, please follow these instructions and send a letter to there,” said Mathy. "And then, we didn't hear anything for almost a year."
Finally, came site visits, an architect’s review, and a federal request for proposal from Mathy.
“The biggest thing for the downtown community is we wanted to make sure that the post office didn't leave,” he said, adding the post office satellite is a huge benefit to downtown businesses.
"Every time we go to that post office, there are always people in line dropping off packages. I don't think people understand how much the downtown branch actually gets used," he said.
Red Raccoon spent $34,000 on package mail in 2023, he said, adding he doesn't think his store is the largest user of the post office for shipping.
Mathy said it's doubtful the post office would move back into the bus station once it goes up.
"The impression that we were given was that they did not want to move back. If they were going to take all the time and effort to move, they were going to stay there for a while," he said.
Mathy said the move could happen relatively quickly, depending on the availability of construction materials.
"Talking to their contractors, he said normally their build-outs take six months from when they start. Theoretically, it could be March or April," said Mathy.
The change will add a lot of foot traffic for existing businesses in the 300 block of Main Street, said Mathy, noting he is still looking for a retail tenant for the final third of his building.
“One of the challenges that we're going to have renting out the last space is it is going to be one of the bigger spaces in downtown. It's a possibility of 2,800 square feet," he said. "Most of the spaces in downtown are 1,500 or 1,000. It's going to need to be a larger retailer that could move in there. I think most places are just staying right where they're at and they're happy with it.”
