Georgetown Post Office Condos?
16 09 2009Some interesting news out of Georgetown on the future of the old post office. According to the Georgetown Current, the post office is planning on selling the top floor to East Banc to turn into condos. Apparently the top floor is unoccupied so it seems like a win-win situation for a prime location and a cash strapped USPS, but we still feel a little uneasy about turning another historic building into condos.
[Photo: Bvrdc]
how is it good for the post office to make a one-time sale within a historic CIVIC building for a private use?
The relentlessly dopey positive tone of this blog is hard to stomach for those of us who don’t assume every new project or modern box is cause for celebration!
it’s never going to be fully utilized as a post office again, that ship has sailed. might as well find some use that will grow the city’s tax base…
I agree with IMGoph. That building would make for some beautiful condos too!
I’m not so in love with the idea of government owned buildings renting out for private purposes. Might it be a better idea to move the local DMV branch to this top floor?
Presently, it’s located in the basement of the nearby mall, and no one ever seems able to find it there. Moreover, that mall is undergoing a large redesign, and I question whether the new management would like to keep it there.
wills: that’s not a bad idea, honestly.
If it keeps the Post office on the ground floor and in this building, then it’s a good move. Traditionally, buildings in urban areas have been mixed use with upper level residential.
It’s the fate of all buildings that if they last more than 50 years, they either become museums or condos.
Wills has it dead on. It’s like putting condos in the Old Post Office building.
Maybe the Federal Triangle could emulate what is happening here, so it wouldn’t be a “after 5 pm and weekend dead zone” of governments offices.
I’m just glad they aren’t putting an indoor gun range up there…
I think condos in the Old Post Office Pavillion would be a good idea. Its not as if its been all that successful.
If not condos above the Gtwn PO, then whats the problem with leased small office space? No sense it letting unneeded space sit vacant, especially if we’re all paying for it.
Wills - good idea. I agree and thing public buildings should first look for public uses. Once these things go private, they never seem to go back!