USPS Facility Closure
Downtown post office, designed by Astrodome architects, sets closing date
The main post office in downtown Houston will permanently close next week, more than six years after the U.S. Postal Service first put the facility on the market.
Built in 1962, the five story Barbara Jordan Post Office sits on a prime 16.3-acre site on Franklin street and houses a public storefront as well as a large sorting facility.
USPS officials have indicated indicated that any new buyer will likely demolish the structure.
Its last day open is May 15. All P.O. box and caller services at the location have already ended and P.O. box service has been relocated to the Sam Houston Station in Midtown, Swamplot reports. All post office boxes have also been removed from the Franklin facility.
The facility's sorting operations will be consolidated with the Postal Service's existing processing and distribution center on Houston's north side.
While the Postal Service has placed the entire property surrounding the building up for sale, it has yet to announce a buyer. USPS officials have indicated indicated that any new buyer will likely demolish the structure, which was designed by Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, the same architects who designed the Astrodome.
Last year, city officials expressed interest in purchasing the property for a new criminal justice complex, but backed off after developers protested that there were better potential uses for the property, such as a park, outdoor amphitheater or a development with housing and entertainment venues, the Houston Chronicle reported.
