With the U.S. Postal Service undergoing both financial turmoil and now the threat of terrorism, Penn will have to wait a lot longer before it can develop the lands currently occupied by the 30th Street Post Office.
The Postal Service, which owns the lands near the Schuylkill River, intends to move to a Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center, to be constructed next to Philadelphia International Airport, but the relocation is now in jeopardy.
The Postal Service had already been suffering heavy financial losses, which caused the original delay in the 30th Street Post Office move, according to University officials. Now with the current anthrax crisis, the 30th Street Post Office's move may be put off indefinitely.
Under the University's Campus Development Plan, Penn plans to build a biomedical complex on the postal lands, which straddle the west bank of the Schuylkill River, once the 30th Street Post Office moves out.
"They seem to be in a holding pattern until they make some sort of decision," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said. "We don't know what their reasons are."
In March, Doyle had speculated that the Postal Service had put a "freeze" on all capital projects including the 30th Street Post Office move due to financial troubles, but says she has not heard of any new developments since then.
According to Paul Smith, a spokesman for the Postal Service, the 30th Street project has not been frozen, but is still far from even coming under discussion with the Postal Service Board of Governors.
"The project is still on the books," Smith said. "It just hasn't come up. There are other facilities as well and I would imagine too their attentions are turning the other way with the crisis with anthrax."
Smith noted that the financial situation of the Postal Service would probably come into play as well.
"The question is whether the funding will be approved," Smith said. "As of now, it's still scheduled to be built, but we can't go forward till the financial issues are addressed."
On Tuesday, the Postal Service announced that "financial projections for the current year, which had already forecast a loss of $1.4 billion, now show current losses mounting ever higher from the on-going battle with terrorism."
The statement noted that the Postal Service would likely request emergency funding from Congress to help cushion the financial losses caused by the terrorist activities.
Though there is still no apparent progress in 30th Street Post Office's relocation, Doyle said that Penn is still committed to its original development plans for the postal lands, but added that the project is "still very preliminary" and that there could be "changes along the way."
Smith estimated that even after the 30th Street Post Office relocation was approved, that construction of the new facility would take a minimum of two years to complete.
However, with "no word" from the Postal Service Board of Governors, Smith noted that the plan's completion could be delayed indefinitely.
"We had actually been looking for a plant for 15 years in Philadelphia," Smith said. "As you can see, it's a time-consuming project."
