By Tao Woolfe
A developer from Greensburg, Kentucky, has been selected to design a new U.S. post office for downtown Boynton Beach.
Maple Tree Investments — one of two developers seeking to design and build a 3,490-square- foot retail post office at 401-411 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. — was approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency board on Dec. 12.
“I have experience in property acquisition, design and construction of postal properties in Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia and Oklahoma,” Todd R. Conley, owner/manager of Maple Tree Investments LLC, told the CRA board.
“These properties range in size from 3,200 square feet to 20,000 square feet. They encompass sorting, delivery and also retail.”
Maple Tree was competing with DMR Construction Services Inc., which has offices in Delray Beach and Waldwick, New Jersey, and has completed residential and commercial projects in Boynton Beach and surrounding communities.
Although the city commissioners, in their role as the CRA board, said they were familiar with DMR, they seemed impressed that Maple Tree has already built post offices in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.
“Postal construction is different from regular commercial construction and we’ve been down that road multiple times,” Conley said.
“If I had to make a choice tonight, it would be Maple Tree,” said Commissioner Aimee Kelley.
As it turned out, she did have to vote that night, and her colleagues agreed unanimously that Maple Tree should get the job.
The downtown post office was asked by the CRA to vacate its current home — at 217 N. Seacrest Blvd. — because the CRA wanted to sell the building to a mixed-use or commercial property developer. The CRA then solicited proposals for a new post office to be created for a building the agency owns on Boynton Beach Boulevard.
The agency received two proposals, but neither one fit the post office’s specifications, former CRA Executive Director Thuy Shutt told city commissioners at the time.
In May, city commissioners, acting as CRA board members, rejected all bids and asked the agency’s staff to bring back all the development options available.
The CRA re-advertised the bids and received the latest two responses in September.
The CRA had hoped that developers would come up with a mixed-use concept for vacant CRA parcels on East Boynton Beach Boulevard that would accommodate the post office’s requirements of 3,474 square feet for a retail post office, a loading dock and 22 parking spaces.
The proposal selected by the CRA board calls for a single-story, stand-alone building.
The post office, represented by U.S. Postal Service real estate specialist Richard Hancock, has said all along it wants to stay downtown and, with the right concept, would lease that space on a long-term basis.
Under the new proposal, the post office would be offered a 10-year initial lease with two five-year renewal options. The CRA board voted unanimously to extend USPS’s lease for its current home on North Seacrest to Jan. 31, 2025, but raised the annual rental rate 5% to $189,000.
CRA and city officials have said there may be few people willing to build to suit — and to serve as landlord — for a government entity.
Conley said Maple Tree’s role will be like that of a general contractor, and that the financing for the $1.3 million project has already been secured. He estimated that the total cost for the new building would be about $2.9 million, which includes construction, permitting and design. No estimate for a completion date was given.
Conley also said he personally monitors all his company’s projects. “You call, you get me,” he said.
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