Politics & Government

Town Officials Don't Seem Interested In Buying Downtown Post Office

!.15-Acre Property Most Recently Assessed at $3.4M

The U.S. Post Office is looking for a buyer of its downtown building, but town officials on Thursday didn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea of the town acquiring it.

Mark Barnhart, director of the town's Office of Community & Economic Development, said he didn't think the town was interested in buying the 1.15-acre site at 1262 Post Road, though he added that other town officials would make that determination. The 1.15-acre property, which includes a 10,716-square-foot building built in 1935, was most recently assessed at $3.4 million, and its market value was listed on town tax records at $4.9 million.

First Selectman Ken Flatto wasn't immediately available Thursday afternoon to say if he had any interest in the town buying the property, but James Millington, majority leader on the Representative Town Meeting, one of three town boards that would vote on a potential acquisition, said, "I would never support the town of Fairfield purchasing it."

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Millington said the best outcome would be for a private party to buy the property so it could be on the town's tax rolls. He said the Post Office's property was "very valuable" due to all the redevelopment across the street in the Brick Walk Shopping Center and could generate a significant amount of tax revenue.

Thomas Flynn, chairman of the town's Board of Finance, another town board that votes on funding requests, said no one from town government had expressed a need for more office space.

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Flynn said the only need for more office space that may come up would be from the Board of Education, which is now in a building at 501 Kings Highway East, but he added that he didn't know the status of the board's lease with Harold Fischel, the property owner.

Even if the town or school board did need more space, other properties, which are not as expensive, would be better suited for that purpose, Millington said. "If the town needs space for whatever reason, we can find space that's not nearly as valuable as this piece of property is," he said.

Barnhart said he hadn't heard an asking price for the property, which is now owned by the U.S. government. He expected an asking price to be revealed in early 2011. The appraisal would seem to indicate an asking price of nearly $5 million, though.

Postal officials are looking to sell the downtown Post Office because they use only 2,000 square feet, according to Barnhart and Peter Penczer, chairman of the town's Economic Development Commission. "I think that they're looking at selling off the asset, but they did indicate they want to maintain a retail operation in the downtown area to serve their customers," Barnhart said.

It wasn't clear where the Post Office would move, though Penczer said he believes a new location wouldn't be far from where the Post Office is now. Barnhart said the sale of the property would be contingent on the Post Office finding a suitable location downtown.

Barnhart said the town now leases 25 parking spaces in the Post Office's back parking lot for train commuters and downtown employees on a six-month basis and that postal officials indicated the lease would be renewed for another six months in January. Barnhart anticipated the sale of the property probably wouldn't take place until next fall at the earliest.

"They thought it would take at least six months to come to an agreement and terms," Barnhart said.

Penczer anticipated little impact to downtown if the Post Office moves to another location. He said customers of the downtown Post Office would still go downtown, only to a different building. "No one's going to be chased away by it, and no one's going to be attracted by it," he said, adding that the Post Office would have the same services if it moves to another location.

Penczer said he didn't have any thoughts yet on what might constitute a good use of the building. "I can see the advantages of having an office or retail building there. It would take the property from being off the tax rolls to being on the tax rolls. An alternative might be more parking, but I'm not sure how well it's located to provide more parking; it's right across the street from the Brick Walk where there's plenty of parking," he said.

Penczer said a lot of changes and improvements have taken place on the south side of the Post Road, but not many had taken place on the north side, with the exception of the building that used to house Mercurio's grocery store and the Fairfield Theatre Company.

Penczer indicated that commercial developers and retailers may have some interest in the Post Office property given business conditions in downtown Fairfield. "All the stores seem to be full, and at a time when people are talking about the market being soft and retail being soft, but that's not the case in Fairfield Center," he said.


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