Ribbon cut at new post office

April 19, 2000|By MARLO BARNHART

As the ribbon was being cut Tuesday for a new post office in Halfway, word came that a site had been selected for another new postal facility on the Leitersburg Pike to replace the outgrown Northern Avenue building.

The Contract Postal Unit (CPU) at 17611 Virginia Ave. in Halfway shares space in the Old Orchard Shopping Center with Allegany Business Consulting Inc., which was awarded the postal contract.

The CPU had been at Eakle's Drug Store. The site there was lost when the drug store closed last June, according to Hagerstown Postmaster Keith Guerrin, who was part of the team looking for a new location.

Attending Tuesday's ribbon cutting were U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., representatives of U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes, both D-Md., Del. Robert McKee, D-Washington; Washington County Commissioner Paul Swartz, and local and regional postal officials.

Hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The postal desk, which is just inside the front door of the consulting firm's office, is full-service.

Herb Martin is the postal manager of the new office, which has been open for business since January.

The new Halfway site boasts plenty of parking. The parking situation was one of the reasons the old 531 Northern Ave. site was targeted for replacement, postal officials said.

Another problem was lack of working space for a growing population in the 21742 ZIP code area in Hagerstown's North End, postal officials said.

Although paperwork is still being finalized, Guerrin said the new building will be about 13,000 square feet built on a 3.9-acre site across from the Exxon Station on Leitersburg Pike.

|

|

|