Development to Come to Post Office Site, Deemed Area in Need of Rehabilitation

The site of the downtown post office was deemed an area in need of rehabiliation by the city council on Wednesday night.

This means that now, any plan that will be proposed by the U.S. Postal Service that will be working together with a developer—at the moment the agency wants to build a hotel at the site—will have to be approved by the city council.

No plan, however, is in place yet.

The hotel would be built behind the current post office. The facade of the post office will not be changed and postal activity on the site will continue. The site at River and First Streets is the only property in town that is owned by the U.S. Postal Service. The other two post offices in town are being leased.

A plan will have to be designed, said Community Development Director Brandy Forbes, which will be followed by a public process to provide for public imput.

"Why would you use redevelopment or rehabilitation as a tool to allow a huge building to be put there?" asked member of the public Dan Tumpson.

It's unclear how tall the building would be. While Attorney Robert Matule said it could be 18 stories, it'd first have to be approved by the council meeting.

The location of the property is basically in between two major sites of development; the New Jersey Transit site, as well as the site of the Pearson building along the waterfront.