The post office is on the National Register of Historic Places.

STAMFORD — A federal judge has halted the sale of the historic downtown post office to a New York developer.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant granted a temporary restraining order last week to the National Post Office Collaborate, the Center for Art and Mindfulness and a former post office box holder who claims the U.S. Postal Service failed to follow proper procedure in closing the facility and didn’t take the $5.5 million high bid for the building last year.

As part of the order, the plaintiffs must come up with a $4.5 million bond to cover the potential loss of the sale and legal costs, should they fail to win their case.

The postal service announced two weeks ago that it was closing the facility on Atlantic Street and selling it to the Cappelli Organization, a New York-based real estate developer that plans to build apartments on the site. Cappelli told The Advocate that the company would preserve the 1916 post office and possibly put retail into it.

via Group fights sale of historic post office

Here is more info from the court case:

National Post Office Collaborate is a national community organization with members and operations nationwide, and with a goal of preserving and retaining public ownership of historic community post offices, such as the Stamford Post Office

Center for Art and Mindfulness, Inc. formerly known as the Lower Fairfield Art Center, Inc., is a nonprofit entity and was the high bidder in an auction in 2012 to purchase the Stamford Post Office with the intent of preserving the Stamford Post Office and its architecture and art for the benefit of the residents and taxpayers of Stamford, Connecticut.

The third party is a boxholder.

On Wednesday, September 18, 2013 the USPS notified local residents that the Stamford Post Office would be closed on two days’ notice, on Friday, September 20,2013. Calls to the USPS revealed that the historic building would be sold on Wednesday, September 25,2013.

There is no other USPS location which has been identified to replace the Stamford Post Office, therefore this is a post office closing and not a post office relocation

When the boxholder went to retrieve his mail from his post office box on Friday, September 20, 2013 he learned for the first time the Stamford Post Office was closing.

Cushman & Wakefield was hired by the USPS to conduct an auction in 2012. Center for Art and Mindfulness, Inc. fka Lower Fairfield Art Center, Inc.,submitted a bid for $5.5 million and was the high bidder. Cappelli Enterprises also submitted a bid for $3 million dollars. There were no other bidders.

Both the Art Center bid and the Cappelli Enterprises bid were contingent on obtaining financing. Eventually the USPS accepted the $2 million lower Cappelli Enterprises bid and it is believed that the buyer at the sale currently scheduled for September 25,2013 is Cappelli Enterprises

The Center for Art and Management, Inc., was the high bidder with a bid of $5.5 million. This amount was subsequently reduced by $500,000, because the building had asbestos in the basement, as determined by an environmental report the Center conducted as part of the due diligence process. The only other bidder, Cappelli Enterprises, bid substantially less: $3 million. When the Center for Art and Management, Inc., tried to negotiate a contingent purchase agreement with a reasonable down payment and a year to raise the development money, the Postal Service declined. Instead, the Postal Service went back to the significantly lower bidder, Cappelli Enterprises, and offered it the opportunity to purchase the building, and accepted its contingent offer, allowing Cappelli one year in which to purchase the building while it looked for tenants and financing.

In sum, when dealing with the much higher bidder, the Center for Art and Management, Inc., the Postal Service pressed for a noncontingent firm transaction, but instead sold the building for an appreciably lower amount to the losing bidder, Cappelli Enterprises, while allowing it almost the same contingent terms which it had refused to allow for the Center.In selling to the low bidder on preferential terms, the Postal Service has made an undue or reasonable discrimination against the Center for Art and Management, Inc., as a user of the mails, and it has granted an undue or unreasonable preference to another such user of the mails, Cappelli Enterprises, in violation of 39 USC Section 403( c).

On September 23,2013, Jill Korte, a member of the National Post Office Collaborate, requested all USPS documentation relating to compliance with National Environmental Protection Act and National Historic Preservation Act requirements under the Freedom of Information Act. As of September 24, 2013, the USPS has provided no documents in response to this request

The USPS is required by NEPA and the USPS’ own regulations to prepare an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement.

The Group’s  Claims

FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
Injunction: USPS Has Failed to Comply with NEPA Requirements

SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
Injunction: USPS Has Failed to Meet National Historical Preservation Act Requirements

THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION
Injunction: USPS Must Satisfy the Requirements of the Public Trust
The mission of the USPS is not simply to be a profit seeking business, but also to serve a “basic function” and have the “obligation … to bind the nation together.” 39 USC §101(a). This is why such great effort and taxpayer expense was made to create masterful structures such as the Stamford Post Office.

The historic post office structures, open to the public, filled with wonderful art, are a national treasure. The current USPS administration should not be allowed to sell them off in quick sales to commercial interests without protecting the public’s interest in them.

FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION
Undue Preference and Unreasonable Discrimination

The group is requesting:

That an injunction be granted until such time as the USPS prepare a good faithEN/EIS and submit to the EPA for public review and input;

That an injunction be granted until such time as the USPS comply with the National Historical Preservation Act and follow the process established by Section 106 of that Act.

That an injunction be granted until such time as the USPS can show that it has met its public trust obligations.

That the USPS be prevented from undue and unreasonable discrimination against Plaintiff Center for Art and Management, Inc., and its purchase offer, and that it be enjoined from granting an undue and unreasonable preference to Cappelli Enterprises by accepting its purchase offer.