Will post office send more business to New Brighton?

Business owners in Main Street Village are hoping a soon-to-open post office will give a boost to the area.

By MARIA ELENA BACA, Star Tribune

Last update: December 9, 2008 - 11:21 PM

The city of New Brighton, and shop owners tucked away in Main Street Village, hope that the long-awaited opening of a U.S. Post Office retail branch nearby will, in effect, turn the L-shaped development inside out by drawing traffic inside.

"People will be forced to come down to this corner as opposed to driving by it on their way to work or the freeway," said Derek Lavigne, who owns DD's Cafe with his sister Dana.

The post office is ready for a January or February opening, said John Ordway, chief manager of Pratt Ordway Properties, which has been working to develop the former MacGillis & Gibbs site, including the corner of Fifth Avenue and County Road E2, for the past decade.

The whole parcel, a former wood-treatment plant, was a state and federal Superfund site. The Main Street Village site was cleaned up and set aside for redevelopment at the end of the last decade. Cleanup efforts continue a few blocks farther south on Fifth Avenue.

Main Street Village sits between the old downtown residential area and an industrial/commercial section running alongside Interstate 35W from E2 to County Road E.

The small commercial zone and adjacent condominium complex form a buffer between those very different uses, said City Manager Dean Lotter.

A post office was part of the original plan for the site, made a decade ago, Ordway said. He noted, however, that the final product has evolved over the years, from a 5,000-square-foot space slotted where the Our Bar now sits, to the 2,400-square-foot shop located across the parking lot.

The current post office includes a retail center and a "back-room" work area for mail carriers and sorters, and outdoor parking, said assistant community development director David Black. It is located in the Northwest Quadrant section, which has been marked for redevelopment by the city.

The trend in new post office construction is to separate retail space from operations, Black said. The Main Street Village site will include only the retail/mailing space; post office operations will be located in the warehouse district, at the southern end of Fifth Avenue.

The word is that the whole operation will move to the two buildings early next year, and the old post office will be razed to clear the way for new development. The new retail building could have been move-in ready sooner, Ordway said, but the Postal Service didn't want the disruption until after the holiday rush.

The Lavignes and other business owners say they hope the addition of a destination spot such as a post office will give a shot to business at traditionally slow times. Several said they'd already been mulling post office specials to celebrate the opening.

"Nights and weekends are not the best here," said Danielle Healy, general manager of the Main Street Village Jimmy John's. "I've got a feeling this just might help."

And Limu Coffee owner Gedam Azeze hopes that post office customers will buzz through to her drive-up window.

"It's good for business exposure," she said. "Everyone goes to the post office, so this will be a chance for us to be noticed."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409

Recent North Metro stories

Homeless and hidden in Minnesota - December 9, 2008

Homeless and hidden in Minnesota - Census volunteers are using new tactics to count the state's growing homeless population, a growth sparked by job losses, home foreclosures and a fragile economy. More