Journal Editor

A major step has been taken to bring a new branch post office to downtown Des Plaines.

A lease for the 2,112 sq. ft. of space at 680 Lee St. was signed last week by the owner of the property, R. Franczak & Associates, and the U.S. Postal Service.

According to Ray Franczak, extensive remodeling is needed to bring the first floor office and mail processing space in shape. The postal branch may open for service by the end of the year, he said. The building formerly housed the offices of Eidamiller Real Estate.

For more than a year, city officials, in particular Ald. Pat Beauvais (1st), have been working to bring a branch post office to Des Plaines' central business district. About a year and a half ago, a postal branch on Lee Street north of Miner Street was closed when the building it was housed in was demolished to make way for the $65 million Metropolitan Square redevelopment project.

Franczak credited the hard work of Beauvais and Ald. Tom Becker (6th).

"There's a lot of work to build it out," said Franczak on Monday. "We have to demolish the existing space. Work on that has already started."

Franczak explained that the postal branch will have access from Lee Street, however, most of the access and traffic will be from the rear. There, a large city -owned parking lot is located.

The lease is for 10 years with two, five-year options to renew. The space in the new facility will be similar to the previous site. Remodeling work, which will be paid by the city, will cost about $200,000.