New post office to open in November

The new Carson City post office at Roop Street and Little Lane should open Nov. 20 - just in time to provide ample parking and space to those rushing to mail holiday packages.

"We're right on schedule, and things seem to be going very well," Postmaster Doug Hval said. "It's one of the finest facilities I've seen in my career in the post office. Not only is the exterior aesthetically appealing, the interior is spacious enough for our operations. We're really anticipating this to be a huge benefit for our customers as well as for our internal operations."

The new 37,000-square-foot building will replace the main office, which has been located on Washington Street since 1970.

The $7.5 million post office, which sits on a six-acre site, will offer increased services to the area, including the increase of parking from 18 spaces to 78 spaces.

"We all know the additional parking is something that is long overdue," Hval said. " The parking spaces alone will be a huge plus during the holiday season."

The Washington Street office has around 3,000 post office boxes, and the new building will have more than 5,000 boxes. The main post office serves ZIP codes 89701, 89703, 89704 and 89705.

Like the Ormsby Station, which serves the 89706 ZIP code, and the post office branch at the Super Kmart on North Carson Street, the new station will offer a postal store to cater to stamp buffs and people interested in post office merchandise.

Hval said the post office will hire no new employees and plans to shift its 116 employees to the new office.

The brick building's front entrance incorporates the design of the clock tower on top of the Paul Laxalt State Building. The Laxalt Building, built in 1888, was the location of the post office before it moved to Washington Street.

Carson City is putting up a stop light at the intersection of Roop Street and Little Lane. City engineer Harvey Brotzman said city staff is waiting on parts for the $190,000 stop light. He said the light should be in by the end of the year.