W. Dundee post office will soon be for sale

Plans to sell the Dundee Main Post Office on South Eighth Street in West Dundee are moving forward. At a meeting Tuesday with village officials from East Dundee, West Dundee and Sleepy Hollow, postal service facilities division personnel announced the building could be on the market by later this week.

The postal service plans to move carrier operations to Carpentersville but maintain a retail presence close to or in the Route 31 building, according to Robert Skurla, the East Dundee village manager.

“The effect on the residents should be minimal,” Skurla said.

Residents may not even notice the change if the future owner of the Route 31 building leases retail space back to the post office. Then people can still pick up and send mail from the same building.

Whichever option pans out, the retail side of the postal service is definitely not leaving the Dundee area, according to Sean Hargadon, a spokesman from the post office's Northern Illinois District.

For post office employees, though, shifts will start and end in Carpentersville rather than West Dundee. The sorting process will be out of the South Kennedy Drive location, which is spacious enough to accommodate the extra activity.

The post office was originally in downtown West Dundee but moved to Route 31 in 1983, according to Joe Cavallaro, West Dundee village administrator. Cavallaro said the latest move is just another step in the post office's evolution.

What's more, at least in West Dundee the relocation could come with some benefits in light of redevelopment opportunities for the post office location.

“That can be a significant positive, depending on what the reuse of that property will be,” Cavallaro said.

Hargadon said the sale could take time, depending on the market. There will be a community meeting in coming weeks giving residents more information, but a date was not available Tuesday.