USPS proposes closing Allston's post office for good after not signing a new lease

The U.S. Postal Service declined to attend a Boston City Council hearing Sept. 22 on its proposal to permanently close the Allston post office, a branch shut since 2019 that the agency promised in 2025 to bring back.

City Councilor Sharon Durkan (District 8) chaired the hearing of the PILOT Agreements, Institutional and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on docket 1338, filed by Council President Liz Breadon (District 9), who represents Allston. The order remains in committee, and Durkan said the council has no defined power over postal issues.

Breadon said about 87,000 Allston-Brighton residents have relied on a single post office, in Brighton, for seven years. Neighboring Newton, with a similar population, is served by 10, she said.

The hearing traced how a promised return came apart. A landlord built space to postal specifications, USPS did not sign the lease, and in early September residents got notice that it proposes to close the branch for good. Postal unions said the agency is skipping steps that federal law requires.

“This abrupt reversal is incredibly frustrating for our community.”

“I just wanted to go on the record to say that USPS has declined to attend this hearing this morning,” Breadon said. The record does not give the agency's reasons.

The agency's position appears in the record only through its letters, as others described them. Durkan said USPS “is facing significant operational and financial challenges.”

What happened to the promised post office?

The branch was at 47 Harvard Ave. in Allston Village. USPS suspended service in December 2019 because of structural problems with the building, Breadon said. Eden Properties, a Boston real estate firm, bought the site in 2021 and is building a mixed-use residential project there.

In June 2025, USPS sent Breadon and the mayor a letter confirming its “final decision to relocate and reestablish” the Allston branch, Breadon said. The letter said there was no right to further review, she said.

Noah Maslin, speaking for Eden Properties by video, said the developer and USPS agreed on a letter of intent in October 2023, drafted by the agency's real estate broker. It set postal requirements for everything from the strength of the concrete floor to the HVAC system.

Maslin said USPS drafted the lease and work letter, and Eden was told the agency's lawyers had approved them by late 2025. Eden bought an electric heat pump system built to postal specifications. “We've probably spent more time on ... working on this tenant than any tenant we've ever worked with ever,” Maslin said.

Durkan said USPS reversed its commitment in April. Maslin said the reason the agency gave was financial: “We're having financial difficulties and this is the decision we've made.”

USPS's September letter to customers said no suitable alternative quarters were available, Breadon said, a statement she said “seems to be untrue.” “I would 100% agree,” Maslin said, and offered the lease's postal specifications for the record.

What the postal unions said

Scott Hoffman, a national business agent for New England for the American Postal Workers Union, said USPS is not following federal statute. “They're not following their own process and procedures that are necessary to shut down the post office,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said the agency lets leases expire or makes onerous demands so that temporary suspensions become permanent closures.

Justin DeLoria, a Massachusetts Postal Workers Union coordinator who researches closures, cited two federal laws, the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 and the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. They require USPS “to provide prompt, reliable service in all areas and all communities,” DeLoria said.

Before closing a branch, USPS must run a feasibility study, post a notice at least 60 days ahead, hold a public hearing and answer written comments in writing, DeLoria said. To the best of DeLoria's knowledge, the agency has not met the notice requirement.

DeLoria also read a USPS handbook section saying structural safety issues alone cannot justify starting a discontinuance study. DeLoria said the union does not know where the study stands because USPS has not answered its information requests, and the union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Who is affected?

Alvaro Lima, the Planning Department's director of research, said the 2020 census undercounted Boston, especially students, in part because of COVID. A demographer in the department said Allston's population grew 7.2% from 2020 to 2025, compared with 2.4% citywide, and about 2,000 housing units have been added since 2010.

The demographer put Allston at roughly 32,000 people and said federal survey figures undercount it by about 10,000. “If the postal service is using the American Community Survey number ... they're using the wrong number,” the demographer said.

The president of the Allston Civic Association said USPS is steering residents to the Brighton post office, where “the line is out the door.” City Councilor Ed Flynn (District 2) said a mile and a half each way is hard for seniors and people with disabilities.

Arthur Downey Jr., an Allston resident of 25 years, said he has had more than 30 package thefts since the branch closed and now has packages delivered to another city. Durkan read written testimony from a 75-year-old resident with mobility issues who called the trip to Brighton Center or Coolidge Corner in Brookline “extremely difficult.”

What happens next?

Docket 1338 remains in committee, and no further hearing was set. At the Sept. 23 council meeting, the council placed on file a letter from Boston elected officials, sent by Breadon, opposing the permanent closure.

Breadon announced a press conference at the post office site for Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. The records reviewed for this story do not show what happened there.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, in a statement read at the hearing by an aide, Mark Flanagan, urged USPS to return to negotiations with the owner of 47 Harvard Ave. The statement said the agency should keep its 2025 promise: “These termination proceedings are a betrayal of that promise.”

Maslin said Eden has a window over the next several months to prepare the ground floor for other uses, though a post office remains its preference. “Eden remains ready to work with USPS, the city and the community if there's still a viable path to restoring the branch,” Maslin said.

“I would just say that the fight continues,” Breadon said as the hearing closed.