By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

March 15, 2016 -- Santa Monica’s U.S. Post Office on 5th Street, a legacy of the New Deal-era that was closed three years ago, might re-open as a “creative” office space under a proposal that adds a new building while also trying to preserve the site’s historic character.

It will be short on parking, though.

A new 14,490 square foot, three-story building (32 feet in height) would be added at the rear of the former post office along 4th Court. Both the old and new structures would be used for office space, according to a proposal by private developers that goes to the City Planning Commission Wednesday.

The post office itself, with its distinctive Art Deco architecture, is to be preserved and rehabilitated, a staff report said.

The applicant, 1248 5th Street LLC, is to “adaptively reuse the former Post Office building and convert it to creative office space,” a City staff report to the commissioners said.

It said “sensitivity to the building’s character-defining” features must to be considered, however. The site is a City-designated landmark.

The commission meets at 7 p.m.in the City Council chambers.

Santa Monica’s post office at 1248 5th Street was one of more than 200 across the nation that the United States Postal Service started closing in 2012 as it was bleeding red ink. The post office in Venice also was closed.

Both the post offices in Venice and downtown Santa Monica were products of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (PWA), a massive effort to help recovery from the Great Depression by putting Americans to work on public-works projects.

Built in 1938, Santa Monica’s downtown post office was just one floor, with a mezzanine and basement. Its design is indicative of the PWA’s Moderne style.

Although residents and preservationists rallied to keep the downtown post office open, the USPS officially closed it in the summer of 2013, with customers that July shuttled to a new location on Seventh Street north of Olympic Boulevard. The USPS said the closure was expected to save about $3 million.

In August of 2013, the City Council approved a preservation covenant for the building to protect its historic roots, the City staff report said.

As a result, the City Council must give the final nod to any type of construction affecting the “historic features of the property.

That includes, the report said, “the mass and plan of the main façade, the poured concrete siding, the wood frame windows, the ornate groves in exterior walls, pilasters, columns, exterior motifs and the ornamental metal fence.”

Interior features to be preserved include the original hanging light fixtures, marble wainscoting, horizontal wood walls and ceilings, metal staircase rails, and tall tables,” it said

Parking is also reconfigured, the report said. It would eliminate 18 current spots along the west side of the building but keep 21 existing spaces and add two new compact parking space and two disabled-parking places.

A parking variance is requested because the project would have a shortfall of 23 parking spaces, the report said.