Site Search Begins for New Bethesda Post Office

Bethesda is slated to get another post office, and the U.S. Postal Service is asking residents for advice on where to locate it.

The new post office will be about 2,000 square feet, will offer retail and customer service, and will have post office boxes.

"We’re talking about a small, storefront operation," Richard Hancock, a real estate specialist for the Postal Service, told a small group of Bethesda residents at a meeting Wednesday evening at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center.

The new post office won't replace anything, and has nothing to do with last year's closure of two Bethesda post offices (at 7001 Arlington Rd. and 7400 Wisconsin Ave.) to consolidate their operations at one location, 6900 Wisconsin Ave. "I’m not closing anything, I’m opening something," Hancock said. 

The 6900 Wisconsin Ave. post office location has received negative feedback from the community because of the site's lack of parking, Patch reported.

But this new post office that the Postal Service is planning for Bethesda should have parking and handicapped accessibility. "That's our goal," Hancock said.

The location is still up in the air, though. Hancock is looking for a suitable site—preferably, one that has access to a rear loading dock to accommodate two to three truckloads of mail a day. The conditions of the real estate market in the Bethesda area have made the search somewhat challenging.

Nevertheless, the Postal Service "will not pay above fair market value" for a site, Hancock said.

Once several sites are in the running, they will be presented to the public through local government channels for a 30-day comment period. Once the site has been selected, the build-out could take anywhere from three to six months, depending on construction challenges, Hancock said.

To suggest a site for Bethesda's next post office, email Hancock at richard.a.hancock@usps.gov.

"If you know somewhere that you think would be a good post office, shoot me an email," he told residents at Wednesday's meeting.

Where would you suggest building this new post office?