Old Midway Post Office Bought for $40 Million – to Be Mixed-Use Project “The Point”

The mystery surrounding the old Midway Post Office has finally been solved. Now we have found out that the site was purchased for $40 million and where the developer plans a mixed-use project, tentatively called “The Point,” which will be a new $325 million urban community.

For a number of years, reports and rumors of sales and projects have swirled around the old Midway Post Office – built in the 1970s -and closed in 2012. The former PO HQ was built to look like a fortress, back in the day when governments feared major urban uprising. (Check out the main downtown fire station – another fortress-looking building built during that same period.)

Here’s what we reported in a September 2015 article:

Former Midway Post Office Sold to Developer Planning Warehouse and Office Project

The old Midway Post Office – built in the 1970s -and closed in 2012 – is in escrow to an unnamed developer who is planning a distribution, warehouse and office project on a 15.68-acre portion of the old postal processing site. The site is a 26-acre complex which consists of a 436,000-square-foot mail processing facility, and a 28,000-square-foot post office along with vehicle maintenance and warehouse functions. The processing facility was moved to Carmel Mountain Ranch.  Thor Kamban Biberman of San Diego Source.

Then in a June 2016 article, we reported:

Is Amazon Taking Over the Old Midway Post Office?

There’s a rumor out there that bears repeating: Amazon may be taking over the old Midway Post Office. One of our readers talked to one of the Amazon delivery drivers just recently, and he told our reader that Amazon is making their headquarters in San Diego. Amazon does have a warehouse on Miramar Rd. But our reader seems to recall that there was a rumor at the Pt. Loma Association Meeting in May that the former Midway Post Office was to be operated by a mail-forwarding firm. Our reader writes:

The Wall Street Journal, in an April article noted that Amazon had broken with UPS over price gouging and was forming their own delivery system, to get packages to customers as quickly as possible; Amazon delivers 24/7. Coincidentally one of the markers associated with Point Loma History, the bronze plaque to Ryan and Lindbergh’s plane is located in the plaza of the old Post office Building.  Co-incidental, inferred and unreferenced; nevertheless worth noting. Bezos is interested in the  aerospace industry just like T. Claude Ryan and other Dutch Flats outfits were.

Our reader tells us that Jeff Bezos (born 1964) is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, an online merchant, which  became the largest retailer on the World Wide Web and a model for Internet sales. As of June 2016, Bezos’ personal wealth is estimated to be US$63.3 billion, due in part to a recent spike in Amazon’s stock price, ranking him 4th on the Forbes list of billionaires.

Finally we have the current news from Times of San Diego:

A 16-acre former post office distribution center in the Midway district was purchased for $40 million with plans for a mixed-use project, the developer announced Wednesday. A new $325 million urban community, tentatively called “The Point,” is planned for the site, which is a short walk from the burgeoning Liberty Station neighborhood.

The buyer of the property is a joint venture whose managing member is an affiliate of San Diego-based real estate developer Hammer Ventures. The seller was Rexford Industrial Realty. An urban master plan is being developed for the site, which is at one of the gateways to the greater Point Loma area. Hammer Ventures was founded in 2000 and has developed property worth over of $1.5 billion. Times of San Diego