Downtown Pensacola Post Office is closing. Where your mail will go instead

The Downtown Pensacola Post Office is closing.

Letters from the postal service to that effect were given to those who rent post office boxes at the branch at 101 Palafox Place. The letters state that the Downtown Post Office lease is being terminated and customers will need to relocate where their mail goes.

“The Post Office is an integral part of any community, and having it located in a convenient and safe location is important,” the letter read. “At times, however, a lease will expire, a building will need repair or renovation, or an area’s growth will simply exceed the site’s capacity to operate efficiently and at its best. In such instances we must take appropriate action to ensure that our customers continue to receive quality service. Thus, a move to new quarters may become necessary.”

According to the letter from the postal service, mail coming to the Downtown Post Office will be relocated to the East Hill Post Office, at 3001 N. Davis Highway. They’ll also be installing free standing P.O. Boxes in the lobby of the East Hill Post Office.

The exact date of closure was not included in the letter, but it asks P.O. Box customers to let the postal service know by Nov. 11 if they are planning to move their box number to East Hill or close it.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you and we hope to make the transition a smooth one to East Hill,” the letter said.

After inquiring about the closing, the following statement was provided by Carol Hunt, strategic communications specialist with the U.S. Postal Service.

“As an integral part of the communities we serve, the U.S. Postal Service strives every day to provide excellent service to our valued customers. In this specific case, the Postal Service’s lease on the facility housing the Downtown Pensacola Post Office at 101 Palafox Pl., Pensacola, FL 32502 was not renewed.  The Postal Service is continuing to actively explore viable options for another location, and customers will be notified as the process evolves. Retail and Post Office Box services for Downtown Pensacola Post Office customers will shift to the new location at East Hill Station, 3001 N. Davis Hwy, Pensacola, FL 32503 in May 2024.  All P.O. Box customers received notification, which provided more details on their P.O. Box service. We appreciate the patience of our valued customers as we work through this transition.”

Most of the postal customers who spoke to the News Journal at the downtown branch are disappointed with the decision.

Kim Passwaters Baldwin owns Around Town Runners, a courier service that offers same day delivery. She has been coming to the Downtown Post Office at least once or twice a day, every weekday, for more than 25 years.

She remembers how much she and other people protested over previous attempts to close the Downtown Post Office, because it has been an important part of growing business in the area.

Downtown Pensacola is now bustling with businesses.

“We have wanted a walking downtown for as long as I've been in Pensacola,” said Passwaters Baldwin. “Well, we have it now. We have plenty of businesses. I just feel like if you lose a walking post office, you kind of lose that core. You need a post office to bring people downtown. I understand that this is prime real estate, and we understand if the post office can't afford the prime real estate, but we need a post office downtown and your business is downtown, so even if we can't stay here, which I get, we need one somewhere we can walk to. I just think it's an anchor.”

Violet Hicks has operated her business downtown for more than 20 years, IT services company Hixardt Technologies. She has been a regular customer of the downtown branch during that time and doesn’t want to see it close.

“This is convenient,” said Hicks, “and I know the closest thing is going to be over on Davis, which is what about 2 miles away, 3 miles away? It's just the convenience of the downtown area is going to be missed. I don't like it, but I have no choice, I know.”

Tori Baker, a Gulf Breeze resident, volunteers downtown once a week and finds the post office convenient when she’s here.

“It's frustrating because there's so much going on downtown now,” said Baker. “There are tons of businesses down here, but that makes it very inconvenient. They're always trying to keep business, and now they're going to move themselves out of where the business is.”

Those customers who are used to walking to the Downtown Post Office will now drive more than 2.5 miles to the East Hill Post Office branch.

That doesn’t make much difference to postal customer Dan Dawes, who rides his bicycle from Warrington to pick up his mail at the downtown branch.

Retired and living on a boat, Dawes said getting his mail is already inconvenient.

“It’s hard for me to feel disgruntled,” said Dawes. “I need the exercise anyway, to get out of the house.”

What’s next for the Downtown Post Office property?

Former NFL player and co-founder of Bear General Contractors Josh Sitton and his wife Kristen Sitton bought the property in 2019 with plans to renovate it, but those plans have now changed to selling the property.

In July, Pensacola architects Brian Spencer and William Brantley presented conceptual plans for a new nine-story, 159-room hotel on the property at the corner of Palafox and Romana streets.

The new tower would be built over the historic corner building that dates to the 1880s and is where most of the post office boxes are located.

The historic building would be incorporated into the new nine-story building that would be 136 feet tall and feature a 161-space, seven-level parking garage in the rear of building.

The proposed plan calls for tearing down the annexed part of the building, built in the 1990s, that houses the customer service side of the post office.

Going up: New nine-story, 159-room hotel proposed atop downtown Palafox post office building

Sitton is not part of the hotel development project.

Architect Brian Spencer has been working with Sitton and said the post office move will make redevelopment easier.

“I'm sure the hotel gave the USPS a sense that Josh was more serious because he was selling the property and there seemed to be a viable replacement,” said Spencer, who added the property is prime real estate for the booming downtown area and has housed many different businesses over the years.

Spencer said the proposed design for the hotel would preserve the “historic, load-bearing brick facades yet incorporate new modern architecture and structural framing systems side by side.”

Longtime customers are still sorry to see the Downtown Post Office go, saying it’s more than just a place to do business.

“How are we going to keep that downtown community if we're not meeting in the post office line and running into each other as we work together?” asked Passwaters Baldwin. “You meet your community in your post office line.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Downtown Post Office on Palafox closing, moving to East Hill