ROBERT SHAROFF

AFTER 13 years of failed redevelopment efforts, the US Postal Service is giving up and auctioning off its largest vacant property: the hulking 250 000m² old central post office in Chicago.

The suggested opening bid for the auction is $300 000, which is less than an individual condominium goes for in many of the surrounding downtown buildings.

“We’re not looking to recoup any investment here,” said Tom Samra, vice-president of facilities for the postal service in Washington. “We’re going to let the auction decide what the ultimate value is.

“A qualified bidder is someone who can close on it in 30 days,” Samra said. “Potentially, anyone with $300 000 could buy this.”

The question, however, is whether anyone will.

Rick Levin, president of a local firm that will conduct the auction, acknowledges that, in its current state, the building represents a significant challenge to developers.

“It’s not the cost of acquisition people need to focus on,” Levin said. “It’s the cost of updating. The minimum bid could have been a dollar. We made it $300 000 to weed out complete amateurs.”

At its peak, 5 000 workers processed more than 35 million letters annually in the building, using 16km of conveyor belts and 48 lifts. Every day, more than 125 trains and 6 000 trucks arrived at the facility.

Source: The Times