The U.S. Postal Service has canceled a $3.05 million deal to sell the Half Moon Bay branch office to a local art dealer, halting the sale just days before it was to be completed.
Postal officials explained they had a change of heart over plans to downsize and rent out a smaller space in the large Half Moon Bay building. Instead they intend to keep the facility along Stone Pine Road as the central distribution hub for the Coastside.
“The (Half Moon Bay) post office is off the market and it’s not going to be on the market anymore,” said Diane Alvarado, real estate manager for the San Francisco district post office. “We have a new district manager who has a different vision for the building.”
While postal officials point out they were fully within their rights to cancel the sale, the decision upset the proposed buyer. Josh Simpson, an El Granada resident and owner of the Half Moon Bay art boutique Jungletraders, said that he was given no warning and little reason for the cancellation.
Postal officials signed the $3.05- million deal with him last year, but they insisted on including a termination clause giving them 120 days to back out of the sale. They assured him there was only a “1 to 2 percent” chance the deal could be called off, Simpson said.
I agree , shouldn’t abandon all those pumpkins !