By Steve Plunkett
The city’s downtown post office is staying put, postal officials announced July 5.
The U.S. Postal Service told Boca Raton in February that it had been unable to get a new long-term lease on the facility at 170 NE Second Street.
“The Postal Service and the landlord since have been able to come to a long-term agreement to stay at the current location,” USPS spokeswoman Debra Fetterly said. Landlords James and Marta Batmasian bought the site, which has housed the post office for decades, in 2013.
Mayor Scott Singer called it “a great outcome” ending months of concern for city officials and downtown businesses and residents.
“I’m glad the Postal Service listened,” Singer said.
Residents crowded a room in the Community Center Annex on March 29 to plead with postal officials not to relocate the post office, saying it was part of the city’s history. The lease was set to end July 13.
Damian Salazar, a USPS real estate specialist, said the agency wanted a lease for at least 10 years with three five-year renewals.
James Batmasian, who attended the meeting, told Salazar that was the first he had heard that the Postal Service wanted a longer lease and offered on the spot to redo a four-year lease he and his wife had negotiated in September.
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