St. Paul post office has a new buyer - and a new purpose

In November, Just Listed reported that the iconic downtown St. Paul post office was for sale. It now has a buyer. Veteran St. Paul developer, Jim Stolpestad, an owner of Exeter Realty and the Ironton Asset Fund, said he and his team plan to convert the building into 250 units of market-rate rental housing.

The 17-story riverfront building on Kellogg Blvd. in downtown St. Paul - known as the Eugene McCarthy Post Office, had been home to the post office processing center until it moved to Eagan in 2010. Stolpestad has been involved with several high-profile residential and commercial projects, including the construction of the Cobalt Condominium building and Lund's food store across the river from downtown Minneapolis.

With apartment vacancy rates at near-record lows, historic buildings like the post office have been prime candidates for conversion into apartments because of the availability of tax credits for historic buildings. The Pillsbury A-Mill - also along the Mississippi Riverfront, for example, is in the midst of conversion into apartments for artists. And Ironton was involved with the recent conversion of the Chittenden & Eastman warehouse building along University Avenue in St. Paul into the C & E Lofts, a 104-unit apartment building.

Terms of the deal were unavailable, but Stolpestad said that conversion could begin in August pending due diligence and a timely closing.