The U.S. Postal Service said yesterday that it will sell the historic James A. Farley Post Office building in New York to the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corp. for $230 million.
The PSRC is a subsidiary of New York state's Empire State Development Corp. The state plans to convert the 1.5 million-square-foot building into a new, glass-covered Pennsylvania Station. The location is one block from the current Penn Station. The deal would transform the Farley building into a major transportation terminal, serving riders of Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and the subway system.
Ownership of the building is to be transferred to the PSRC within one year.
The USPS plans to consolidate most of its mail processing operations at the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, one block away. The USPS would continue to occupy about 250,000 square feet in the Farley building, including the retail post office. Other postal operations remaining in the building will include Express Mail, mail delivery, truck platforms and a stamp depository. Administrative offices for the postal service's New York District also will be headquartered there. About 2,500 postal employees now work in the Farley building, with 900 remaining after the move.
All other administrative functions now in the building will move to the Church Street Processing and Distribution Center, 90 Church St. in Manhattan.
