Downtown post office reborn as chic space

Nov. 14—The 86-year-old Federal Building in downtown Mesa officially has begun a new life as an event space called The Post after languishing largely unused for two decades.

In 2001, the U.S. Government declared the former 22,000-square-foot post office and administrative building surplus, and in 2002 transferred the building to the city under the condition that it be used for community and museum purposes.

The completed renovation of The Post is a win for city officials and historic preservationists, who see the adaptive reuse of Mesa's first 1st class Post Office as a model for preserving other historic structures in Mesa.

Adaptive reuse allows a historic building to serve a new function from its original intent while maintaining part of the historic architecture.

For the design and construction teams that executed the Federal Building renovation, that meant doing things like "putting bathrooms where bathrooms were never meant to be" in a building constructed in 1936 then expanded in 1959, said Robert Wadsack, an architect with project designer GH2 Architects.

Wadsack said there were "many surprises" — both good and bad — workers found as the project progressed.

On the good side, the designers found a decorative metal panel with an Art Deco look on the lintel above the original entrance, which they preserved and "brought back to life."

A layer of wood subflooring found under a layer of tar paper was in excellent condition and repurposed as decoration throughout the building.

The city spent $8.8 million in voter-approved general obligation bonds to revamp the Post, which included asbestos removal and design of the new multi-use space, where the city hopes to book meetings, receptions and other events.

The renovation aimed to preserve historic features of the Depression-era building while upgrading it into a more functional space for the 21st century.

Besides large ground-floor banquet space with attached kitchen, the Post will also house the Downtown Transformation Office on second-floor offices.

The Natural History Museum will continue to use the basement for collections storage, as it has for many years.

For the next two months, The Post will be open to internal city events to help get the building ready before opening to the public in January.

City officials said there is already strong interest from the public.

"We received over 20 inquiries — from small meetings to wedding receptions — and the calls/inquiries keep coming in. Once we finalize the rates, we will start booking for January and beyond," a spokesman said.

The city will now focus on one more upgrade to the Federal Building grounds: a $3.3 million, 10,000-square-foot outdoor event space to the west of the building called the Neon Garden, which will house select historic neon signs preserved by the city and currently held in storage.

Officials say construction of the garden will begin in a few months and is estimated for completion at the end of 2024. The city envisions the Neon Garden hosting small concerts, weddings and farmer's markets.

At a ribbon cutting, Mayor John Giles expressed relief and satisfaction at seeing the federal building finally complete its transformation more than 20 years after the federal government transferred the property to the city.

"I think everybody feels a great sense of accomplishment today, that, 'man, it happened," said Giles, who noted that for many years "it was hard to find anyone who would advocate for this building."

City Manager Chris Brady and the mayor credited the doggedness of Mesa Preservation Foundation Vic Linoff, architect Ron Peters and former council member Dennis Kavanaugh with pushing for the renovation and getting it to this point.

Brady said his first inclination was to tear down the building so something else could be built at the prime corner location. He eventually saw the preservation light.

"Vic, in his own special way, has been on top of us," Brady said. "After a while. I'm like, 'wait a minute. There's a story here and there's an opportunity here.'"

"The Federal Building has been an important part of many of our residents' lives," he said. "We knew we had to do all we could to preserve its original character and architectural design elements to continue telling its story,"

A daughter and four grandchildren of long-time Mesa Postmaster Grant Macdonald attended the official opening ceremony and reminded attendees of all the life swirling around the post office.

Giles said he has "crystal clear memories of holding my mother's hand and walking through that door to come to the post office. Because before there was email, there was mail."

Several speakers reflected on how important the post office was for moving information and connecting people before the rise of cell phones and the internet.

Councilwoman Jenn Duff found it poetic that the old post office would be an event space, where it will hopefully continue to serve as a hub of human connection.

"The Post is still a place to come together ... a place where we can be in person and share and create new memories as we go forward," Duff said.