Landmark Downtown Post Office Building Sold

Maverick developer Cameron Kuhn is going first class on a 59-year-old downtown Orlando U.S. Postal Service building that most industry watchers felt might be headed for oblivion. Kuhn outbid a half dozen rivals for the four-story, 66,000-sf structure that he plans to convert into office condos and retail within 10 months.

The Post Office anticipates owning about 15,000 sf for its daily operations. Kuhn will own the balance of the building, listed as a historic landmark by the city in 1989.

The Chicago-born Kuhn, who has invested $20 million so far on eight downtown fixer-upper, revenue-producing properties, has 30 days to complete his due diligence on the contract. Closing is set for early first quarter 2001. Terms and price are still being negotiated but construction industry sources tell GlobeSt.com a comparable 66,000-sf, class A asset couldn’t be erected today for less than $9.9 million or $150 psf.

“It’s a helluva deal,” Carter & Associates-ONCOR vice president Tom Cook told GlobeSt.com. “And only somebody like Kuhn could pull it off.” Cook is negotiating for the developer. Welsh Cos. represents the Postal Service.