Post office in downtown Fort Myers continues to struggle after Hurricane Ian

With the downtown Fort Myers post office out of service for the past 16 months since Hurricane Ian, tensions are rising over its future, leaving the Fort Myers City Council facing the issue.

On Tuesday night, council member Liston Bochette pushed for a reprimand while other members pushed for something else.

For more than a year, the doors to the post office have been locked while they are under repair. However, during the restoration, it has also gone up for sale, and the property is worth millions.

“Perhaps one of the most iconic Postal Service’s and Lee County parliamentarian procedures, calls for an act of call to action. And it’s called a reprimand,” said Councilman Bochette.

Tuesday night, councilman Bochette said he was ready to call upon the Federal Government for their overdue closure.

“We do have the right for a reprimand to say, ‘Hey, pay attention to us,'” said Bochette.

As one of the last parts of downtown to be left untouched since Hurricane Ian, many in the area are wondering what the holdup is.

“It must just be a labor shortage. Is that a material shortage? Or just maybe people are just taking their time to rethink what they want to do with stuff,” said Jeffrey Lindbloom, a downtown Fort Myers resident.

While Mayor Anderson doesn’t agree with the reprimand, he does have an idea of what the city can do now that the property is on the market.

“That block, you know, goes from First Street to Edward in Monroe, to Heitman. And we own about maybe a third of it,” said Mayor Anderson. “We’re going to explore the possibility of purchasing that so that we have the entire block, and then we can decide what would be the best use for that property.”

The 2.7 million dollar property is currently owned by Monroe Bay Development and is leased by the United States Postal Service. It is nearly on the waterfront with direct access to the downtown Fort Myers area.

Some believe the property that’s now on the market is worth more than mail.

“I just don’t honestly have much use for post office anymore, to be honest,” said Lindblom. “And I can see that you could probably do something a lot more practical and useful for the benefit of the city than a post office.”

It’s unclear if the city will pick up the piece of land, but Mayor Anderson says they’re considering it.

WINK News reached out to the current owners legal team for info on the property and its sale, they said they could not share that info.

The United States Postal Service sent a statement on Wednesday saying they hope to open the doors to the post office by mid-February.

Click here for more information on the USPS leased facilities report. When you open the link, click on the file next to Florida to download the info.