Postal Service searching for 'alternate quarters' after Wendel post office closure

Real estate professionals with the U.S. Postal Service are searching for “alternate quarters” after the post office in the Hempfield village of Wendel shuttered last month, officials said.

The post office, located at 369 Wendel Rd., closed Feb. 13 because the Postal Service lost its lease on the building, officials confirmed at the time. According to Tad Kelley, a Postal Service spokesman in Pittsburgh, an alternate quarters search is “standard practice for a loss of lease situation.”

The location being sought is in Wendel, according to correspondence from U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s office to Hempfield officials, which was obtained by the Tribune-Review.

There is no timeline for when that search could be complete.

The Wendel post office served the 15691 ZIP code with all customers getting their mail at the post office because there is no home delivery in the community. Since the location closed, customers have had to get their mail at the post office in Manor, which is about 5 miles away.

At the time of the closure, a dumpster that sat in front of the building was filled with discarded rugs, post office boxes and other materials.

Officials in Hempfield’s planning and zoning department are working with Reschenthaler’s office to provide ideas for where that new post office could be located.