The U.S. Post Office appears to be moving across the street to the current Kenmore City Hall location.
Kenmore City Manager Frederick Stouder declined to say the move was a done deal.
But upon returning from Washington, D.C. with Mayor David Baker, Stouder said the national facility’s committee of the post office had approved the move.
Stouder and Baker both said the deal needs a final OK from postal officials in Washington, D.C., but both also added their understanding is that approval is all but assured once the facilities committee had signed off on the move.
“We’re confident this is in the final steps,” Stouder said.
At least since early spring, Baker and others have been trying to find a new spot for the post office, which currently sits at 6531 N.E. 181st St. That just happens to be the exact location the King County Library System tabbed as the best spot for a new and expanded city library.
As has been reported in the past, the hitch became that the post office had an extended lease on its space and could have stayed pat until 2011, putting a long hold on the library project. In August, Baker said he and Stouder had obtained preliminary approvals at the federal level for the post office to move into what is currently Kenmore City Hall. Those approvals apparently became more than preliminary last week.
“Everybody’s looking at the middle of November,” Baker said in terms of the post office opening in its new location. He added the postal officials are looking at three potential remodeling schemes for Kenmore’s City Hall. Under what Baker called a worst-case scenario, the remodeling will take about six weeks. Stouder said the fact that the post office created blueprints for the reconstruction of City Hall was more proof to him that the deal is all but complete.
Obviously, if City Hall is to become the Kenmore Post Office, city officials need to find a new home at least temporarily. Stouder said the city signed a lease agreement effective Oct. 1 for space on the second floor of the historic Schniztelbank building on Northeast Bothell Way. The city will move some of its operations there until the completion of the new City Hall on 68th Avenue Northeast. That construction is under way and should wrap up by spring of 2010.
Stouder said while there are some technical details to work out, he expects city officials will be out of the current City Hall by the middle of October. City offices may close for a couple of days, probably a Friday and Monday, as the move takes place, Stouder said.
Why all the musical chairs with office space? Both Stouder and Baker have said the effort is worth it to get the library project moving and keep a post-office branch in Kenmore. At one point in June, postal officials were ready to announce they were leaving the city and consolidating their local operations, probably in Bothell.
As for the library project, King County Library System Director Bill Ptacek has said he wants to hold a groundbreaking for the new library in November. If all goes as planned, that new building should be open to the public in late 2010.
