Post Office Neighbors Hope for a ‘Big Boost’
Construction of the nation’s largest single-level post office is under way in an economically depressed South-Central Los Angeles neighborhood that expects a “big boost” when the 1.1-million-square-foot facility is completed in 1988.
Los Angeles Postmaster Charles W. King and community leaders predicted that development of the 74-acre site five miles south of the downtown area will have a highly beneficial effect on the crime-plagued community for several miles around the new General Mail Facility.
The structure is going up on the long-closed Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. site and will face Central Avenue near 68th Street on the east, railway lines and a small industrial park on McKinley Street on the west, Florence Avenue on the south and Gage Avenue on the north.
Chicago’s 2.9-million-square-foot main postal facility still exceeds the new structure here in size, but that space is spread through a 12-story building. In New York, the size of the major building is about the same as the new Los Angeles facility, but is in a three-story structure.
King said future central distribution post offices will be built on a single level because “it is much more efficient and we are valiantly working to improve our service” both locally and nationally by improving business methods.”
“Unfortunately, it will not result in any large immediate employment by us from the community,” King said, “because we will be bringing the initial work force of 3,500 from the downtown Terminal Annex postal facility, which is being replaced by this new operation.”
Ultimately, the new South-Central facility will employ 4,100 people and “we’ll do our best to get new hirees from that area down there,” added U.S. Postal Service spokesman David Mazer.
Councilman Optimistic
City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay is optimistic about the impact on the community, saying that it would obviously encourage the opening of “satellite” businesses in the area and improve property values generally.
But he added that it is unfortunate that there will not be enough hiring to have much impact on unemployment in the community, which is estimated at 16.8%. Sister Diane Donoghue, a leader in the grass-roots South Central Organizing Committee, earlier had praised the decision to place the facility in the area as a “major plus” for nearby residents and businesses.
She also said that it would help the unemployment situation to some degree since minority-owned contracting and subcontracting firms are expected to participate in the construction.
Cmdr. Frank Patchett, head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Division, said he is “quite pleased” that the facility is being built in his jurisdiction.
“It can’t help but improve the general look and outlook of the area,” Patchett added, “and the community leaders agree with us that it should be a real help in driving out or at least diminishing the heavy gang and drug activity that is now present in this part of town.”
The sprawling brick building constructed 63 years ago by Goodyear had remained idle since the tire company closed it down in 1977. The area around the site is a mixture of residential neighborhoods and industrial sites. Between where the post office is being built and downtown are the city’s main trucking firms and fresh fruit and flower distribution markets.
Other favorable community response came from the Rev. Charles Mims, who has been a leader in the effort to combat what he calls the “crack cocaine epidemic” plaguing the area.
“I think it will be a really good thing for the community,” Mims said. “It should change the whole image down here very positively.”
Mary Jacobs, who is director of Pueblo del Rio Housing Project, echoed Mims’ remarks and added:
“It undoubtedly will be a big boost to the area. It is going to be both financial and psychological, and we direly need both to turn around what is happening down here.”
Basically, the new facility is replacing the badly overcrowded Terminal Annex Post Office, which was built in 1938 on Alameda Street adjacent to the Union Railway Station downtown. Terminal Annex, 400,000 square feet smaller than the new facility, is so crowded that much of its bulk mail services must be contracted out to other sites around the area.
Terminal Annex has gotten voluminous national publicity in recent years for the miles of cars that queue up near midnight on April 15 for last-minute filing of income tax returns.
Postmaster King said that despite the move of most activities to the new facility, Terminal Annex will retain its customer service windows. The government also intends to develop the remaining space for businesses such as shops and restaurants. He said there also is the possibility that portions of the structure will be torn down to be replaced by high-rise developments.
Price Tag: $151.6 Million
The property on which the new facility is being built was purchased from Goodyear by the U.S. Postal Service for $15.9 million. Design costs are estimated at $6.5 million, with construction costs projected to be $129.2 million, for a total price tag of $151.6 million.
A complete lobby unit will be a key portion of the new postal facility, with eight customer windows in operation plus two registry windows, a philatelic counter and four self-service vending consoles.
In the major portion of the building, there will be the “most modern automation and mechanization equipment in the country for mail processing,” Mazer said.
Adjacent to the single-level post office structure will be a three-story office building containing the postmaster’s administrative offices.
Already constructed on the site is a 150,000-square-foot warehouse, and a 59,000-square-foot vehicle maintenance facility is included in the plans.
Major Contracts
Preceding the current construction start-up, contracts for more than $92 million were awarded with the largest, totaling $57,537,000 for general trades work, going to John W. Bateson Co. of Dallas.
Mid-West Conveyor Co. of Kansas City, Kans., was awarded a $14,633,000 contract for mechanical equipment.
Two local firms to win contracts were Scott Co. of California, headquartered in Gardena, and Newberry Electric Inc. of Los Angeles. Scott was given an $11,912,000 contract for plumbing, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning work. Newberry will be paid $8,161,600 for installing electrical systems.
Mazer said completion of the facility combined with the Worldway Postal Center near Los Angeles International Airport “will give this part of Southern California some of the world’s best mail service, in keeping with our new spirit philosophy of making things more convenient for customers.”
