Can we keep a post office in downtown Pensacola?

Ballard Partners’ Dan McFaul is helping Mayor D.C. Reeves convince the United States Postal Service to find a new location in downtown Pensacola. McFaul discusses that effort and his work to get $22 million from the FAA to expand the Pensacola International Airport.

McFaul reminded me that the USPS tried to shut down the downtown office in 2009, and his former boss, Congressman Jeff Miller, intervened.

“Mayor Reeves has made pretty heroic efforts to identify other office spaces that were available for the post office to move into,” McFaul said. “He engaged Senator Rubio, and Senator Rubio has been very active in preserving the post office as well and finding an alternate location.”

He continued, “But it’s clear to me that USPS in DC is looking for an excuse to shut down the downtown post office. They’ve been trying to do it for many, many years, and the lease ending is just a convenient excuse, in my opinion, to be able to do it. But I will say even if we do get past that April date, there was nothing that would preclude entering into a new lease agreement and continuing to have a downtown postal service facility for the area.”