Shoreline Post Office in transition

A blue drop box has been installed in front of the
Gateway Plaza post office site

By Diane Hettrick
Photos by Steven H. Robinson

The Shoreline Post office is open for business. Post office boxes are in place, and a new blue drop box is outside the new retail space at Gateway Plaza, 185th and Aurora.

Some hiccups remain, mostly for employees.

Retail space at Gateway Plaza is unfinished

The interior of the retail space is unfinished.

Bathrooms are non-functional, so workers use
portable toilets in front of the MLT building

The bathrooms at the old Office Depot space in Mountlake Terrace don't work. Postal workers use portable toilets in front of the building.

Vans are neatly lined up at the Ballinger Portal site

The Ballinger Portal site on Ballinger Way, leased from the City of Shoreline, holds all the vans, but postal workers have to walk back and forth from the processing center in Mountlake Terrace.

How far this seems will probably depend on the weather - a pleasant walk in the sunshine, and not so pleasant in pounding rain.

Officials at the public meeting were clear that convenient employee parking is a priority, so this is obviously not an ideal situation.

The Postal Service real estate division hopes to find property in central Shoreline that can accommodate all the services - parking for vans, employees, and customers, the processing center, and retail services. They are open to remodeling an existing building or building a new facility. They are willing to purchase property - the old location was on leased land.

This process will take at least a year, and probably more.