A U.S. Postal Service representative said the agency plans soon to staff a temporary Arnold Post Office out of a mobile unit set up in a parking lot at 2184 Michigan Avenue in Arnold.
Some postal services, such as P.O. boxes and a collection box, already are located in the parking lot outside a building in the Water Tower shopping plaza where a Here Today store used to operate.
The Arnold Post Office, which used to be housed in a building at 1314 Jeffco Blvd., closed last month after the lease for that space expired on Jan. 31.
The Postal Service has signed a lease to relocate the Arnold Post Office into part of the building that had housed the Here Today store, but renovations must be completed first.
U.S. Postal Service spokesman Mark Inglett said the agency is completing the design for the new Post Office and expects renovations to begin later this spring or in early summer.
He did not say, however, when the renovation is expected to be completed or when the new Post Office may open.
The Postal Service previously announced it would have a staffed mobile unit in place by Jan. 31, but that has been delayed.
“We have a Mobile Postal Unit in place and are currently installing internet services that will provide postal retail service and PO box mail,” Inglett said on Feb. 12. “We hope to be operational within seven to 10 days.”
Inglett said when internet service is available, postal employees will provide services to customers from the mobile unit. He said the unit will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
Until the mobile unit is staffed, items that can’t be delivered to homes and large PO box items need to be picked up at the Post Office at 5636 Telegraph Road in south St. Louis County, he said.
The Postal Service previously placed two mobile units and a blue collection box outside the new site for the Arnold Post Office.
Inglett said the label on the blue collection box that says mail is collected from that box at 2 p.m. on Saturdays is incorrect.
“Mail from the blue collection box is collected daily, Monday through Saturday,” he said. “A new label is being installed to show the collection times.”
Inglett said the Postal Service is trying to accommodate customers during the transition.
“Arnold is a very important community to the Postal Service,” he said. “Our goal was to have our new facility nearby and to continue providing the same level of exceptional service to our customers.”
A Chase Bank branch will be built at the location where the current Post Office stands. The existing building at the site will be demolished, and a new full-service branch will be built, a bank spokesman said.
He said work at the location is scheduled to begin this month, and the new branch is expected to open in late summer.