Despite news reports from other media outlets last week that no post offices in Western Washington would be closed due to economic pressure, the downtown Kent Post Office remains under consideration for consolidation.
“The Kent station is still up for sale,” Postal Service spokesperson Ernie Swanson said Monday.
Located at the corner of Second Avenue and West Gowe Street, the 12,000-square-foot facility is up for sale as part of a cost-saving measure announced this spring as the Postal Service looks to function in lean economic times.
The downtown facility houses no carriers and is simply a retail and post office box facility. Swanson in May said the Postal Service preference would be to sell the building and lease from the new owner the 2,000-square-foot retail space.
That means that although USPS doesn’t want to own a downtown facility, it would still like to operate a downtown location, but just out of leased space.
Included on the list of six potential closures that will remain open, however, was Kent’s Midway office, located at 234th Street and Pacific Highway. But that office is safe from the latest round of cuts.
The downtown facility remains a possibility for closure, however, subject to the sale the building.
“We’ll leave it on the market and see what happens,” Swanson said. “It could be closed if we’re able to sell the property.
“Until that happens, we will remain there,” Sawnson said.
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