Airport Post Office Moving To New Location
Late-operating post office moving 1.5 miles, off airport property.
USPS Airport Mail Facility at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Milwaukee’s “Airport Mail Facility” is moving away from Milwaukee’s airport.
Starting Monday, April 14, the United States Postal Service will relocate its post office at 5500 S. Howell Ave. to a strip mall at 552 W. Layton Ave.
The move will relocate USPS from a building leased from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and Milwaukee County to a privately-owned facility.
It comes as a 2022 airport master plan update envisions a future use for the existing post office site.
The master plan calls for the post office site and that of four adjacent corporate hangars to eventually be redeveloped into a new parking structure. The hangars, according to an implementation plan, are to be relocated to the northeast corner of the airport. Current tenants include Rockwell Automation and Harley-Davidson.
USPS, an airport spokesperson confirmed, was not offered a lease renewal. Its lease runs through October.
As a plaque posted outside the one-story, oddly-shaped structure confirms, USPS has occupied the building since 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president and Albert V. Casey was postmaster general.
While the nature of mail has changed since then, one thing has ensured the airport post office’s continued popularity: it’s open late.
As dozens of people rushing to postmark their tax returns by April 15 will soon be able to tell you, it’s the last station operating late into the night. It’s also open on Sundays. The post office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 19 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The new location is about 1.5 miles away, located between a vape shop and Oakland Gyros.
While a seemingly endless array of fast food options line W. Layton Avenue, the post office will lose a key landmark that helps customers find it. It can easily be found in its airport home by the mounted fighter jet in front of it, the Captain Lance P. Sijan Memorial Plaza, which honors the Bay View native and Medal of Honor recipient with an F-4C fighter jet and seating area.
The new location won’t include the built-in chance to remember a Milwaukee war hero of unfathomable bravery, but instead will require you to turn when you see the Wendy’s sign.
USPS announced its decision on where to relocate in March 2024.
“The Postal Service anticipates providing the same services at the new location as are currently provided to our customers at the existing location,” says a final decision statement. “While the Postal Service is sensitive to the impact of this decision on its customers and the Milwaukee community, the Postal Service properly considered community input and this decision is consistent with Postal Service objectives. Postal Service operations are not supported by tax dollars. To be self-sustaining, the Postal Service must make decisions that ensure it provides adequate and affordable postal services in a manner that is as efficient and economical as possible.”
The airport post office does not include direct runaway access. A much larger processing and distribution center is located just beyond the southeast border of the airport on E. College Avenue in Oak Creek.
Further south on Howell Avenue from the soon-to-be-former post office, Jet Aviation is redeveloping the former 440th Airlift Wing site into a cargo facility.
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Maybe they could fly an American flag onsite to help folks further in finding it?
I do appreciate your reference to WENDY’s as a marker, though.
The staff at this U.S. Post Office are really great folks, by the way.