The future of Princeton Borough’s post office was among the items to be discussed at last night’s meeting [Tuesday, December 13] of Princeton Borough Council. A representative was to be on hand to update residents on the status of the Palmer Square station and answer questions about where a new, smaller post office will be located.

“We have an obligation do do what we call ‘community contact’ whenever we propose or consider these types of modifications,” said Ray Daiutolo, Postal Service spokesman, last week. “The representative will explain our plan. Our desire is to sell the location. If we’re successful in doing that, we will relocate the retail operation from that location to another smaller location close to where that is. Basically, it’s not taking away service. We just want to move it.”

The Postal Service announced last October that it planned to sell the Palmer Square station, which was built in 1934. The building is assessed at $1.9 million. Less than 2,000 of its 11,000 square feet is currently in operation. Carriers were shifted earlier this year to the post office at Carnegie Center, and some services previously offered at the Palmer Square location are now handled by the West Windsor station.

A national brokerage firm is representing the Postal Service in the sale. “We will do a public call to offers, and once we get to that point, it will go on the market just like any other building,” Mr. Daiutolo said. “I understand there will be extra due diligence because of its historical factor.”

One wall of the Palmer Square building is painted with a mural, America Under the Palms, by artist Karl Free. In recent years, Princeton University students have been known to protest outside the post office, claiming the subject matter depicting Native Americans cowering in the presence of European settlers is discriminatory. The artist was commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department to create the mural, which includes a rendering of Princeton University’s Nassau Hall.

Mr. Daiutolo said the representative would listen to suggestions from the public about where to relocate the station. “That’s part of the process,” he said. “We will even work with the local officials as to what potential areas to go to, what will offer the best parking, that kind of thing. We want to do something mutually beneficial for everybody.”

While he declined to name parties interested in the building, Mr. Daiutolo said there have been inquiries. “I’m thinking that based on the amount of feedback we’ve gotten from potential buyers, if and when we are able to get it on the market, I don’t foresee it taking long,” he said.