The Post Office located on Main Street in Watertown will be closing for an extended period starting in January 2024.
The Post Office, located across from the Library at 126 Main St., Watertown, will close while the building where it is located is torn down and replaced with a five-story mixed use building with retail on the ground floor and four stories of residential above. The project was approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals in October.
During the hearing for the project, the developers said they had contacted the U.S. Postal Service about designing a new space in the development, and also said there may be a temporary location. Under current plans, there will be no temporary spot in Watertown Square.
The Post Office will close on Jan. 26, 2024, said Steve Doherty, Strategic Communications Specialist for the United States Postal Service Atlantic Area – Northeast Region.
“The landlord is planning to redevelop the property, a process that is expected to take approximately two years,” Doherty said. “We hope to move back into the newly renovated building at that time. In the interim, we will be moving operations into our Newtown office, which is about a half mile away at 123 Galen St. in Watertown.”
Alternate Post Offices
The Newtown Post Office is open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Nonantum Post Office, 326 Watertown St., Newton, is a mile from the Watertown Square Post Office, and is open Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Also in town is the East Watertown Post Office, 589 Mt. Auburn St., which is 1.6 miles from the Main Street Post Office. It is open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Waverley Post Office at 492 Trapelo Road in Belmont is also 1.6 miles from the Watertown Post Office. It is open Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday Service
Post offices in the area open on Saturdays include the Newtonville Post Office, 897 Washington St., Newton, is 2.1 miles from the Watertown Post Office and is open Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.
The Belmont Post Office at 405 Concord Ave., Belmont (2.6 miles from the Watertown Post Office), which is open 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays.
The Waltham Post Office at 776 Main St., Waltham, is 3 miles from the Watertown Post Office, and is open Saturdays 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The Post Office in Brighton Center, 424 Washington St., Brighton, is 2.6 miles from the Watertown Post Office and is open Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Harvard Square Post Office has the longest Saturday hours, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (and 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays). It is located at 125 Mt Auburn St Ste 1, Cambridge, and is 3.6 miles from the Watertown Post Office.
Find out what services are offered at each branch on the USPS website by clicking here.
Sorry to hear this. Glad there are two other locations in town and two in adjacent communities to cover things!
Thank you for including the super convenient Harvard Square on this list; only 3.6 miles from Watertown Square and open for extended Saturday hours. I am very excited to have the opportunity to drive over to the PRC to mail a package. Thank you developers!!
Why don’t developers consider the community they displace primarily! when they create new spaces? A post office is essential for communities. Certainly there others you can drive to. This one is especially convenient for Watertown and even this (Saturday) Belmont resident.
The Nonantum post office is just 1.1 miles from the Main Street, Watertown post office and has parking just steps away in the back of Moldova restaurant. It also boasts 8 or 9 restaurants, Antoine’s bakery, Steamers seafood market, a gift shop, pizza shop, Dunkin Donuts, Swartz Hardware, hair salons, Busy Bee florist, tailors and seamstresses, nail salon, cleaners, antique shops, realtor, DePasquale’s market, dance studio, a collectibles shop, liquor store, jewelry store, a venerable old perfumery (Colonial Drug), Computer repair shop, barber shop, etc. and a post office – all in a space about 6 blocks long. Oh, and a pocket park with a beautiful clock, trees, and benches. In other words, it’s EVERYTHING I’d like Watertown Square to be.
Thanks for including the other postal options. I’m sure from a USPS business perspective it seems there’s many service options for customers within a relatively short mileage radius; however, that doesn’t account for traffic, parking and many of the nearby options not offering Saturday service. It’s unfortunate a temp location couldn’t be an option or even a Saturday mobile postal truck option being available for services near the current location – behind Town Hall or the library on Saturdays.
We are fortunate that there are other post office locations we can use while the construction is in the works, but many of us have the fear that our Post Office won’t return as they say. I think the developer of 104-106 Main St. is hoping that the Post Office won’t want to come back after the luxury apartment building is completed probably in two years or more.
They’re probably hoping and thinking too much time will have elapsed and people will be used to going elsewhere. Maybe they don’t want the increased traffic affecting their well-to-do potential residents paying the big bucks to reside there.
Could it be because they do not want to lock in a government contract as that would be more difficult to change going forward vs. another retailer where they could raise rents more easily during lease renewals.
Why couldn’t the Post Office find a good temporary location? The Santander Bank location has been mentioned by many. It would be nice to know if it was actually considered and what, if any, impediments caused it to not happen. Was it actually the Post Office’s decision or outside influences?
The developer’s plans for the new building don’t show details on the first floor to accommodate the special needs of a Post Office, such as spaces for their trucks and vans to pick up and deliver mail and for customers to frequently come and go during the day. The square footage will be considerably smaller than our current Post Office if it does happen as the potential retail space on the first floor is thousands of square feet smaller in total.
What is going to happen to the current very dedicated and customer-service oriented employees at the Post Office? Will they be placed at other inside locations near here or will they be forced out onto the streets to fill those hard-to-hire carrier positions? How are they going to accommodate the Post Office Boxes that individuals and businesses have had for years?
How is the word going to get out to people who aren’t regular readers of Watertown News? Will they just have a note on the door to surprise customers as they busily go about their business one day? So many questions and so few answers!
A Post Office in our downtown area is vital to making Watertown a walkable and vibrant city. Let’s hope that it actually does come back. Otherwise the total Watertown Square Study Plan will lose a key element for that area to be revitalized.
All very good points and you are probably correct!
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It’s not all about parking. Some of us have to walk to the Post Office to begin with, and need to do so especially now that mailboxes are not safe from theft. So for at least two years we’ll have fewer days to transact business, longer distances to negotiate in all weathers, and no guarantee a Post Office will ever return to Watertown Square.
What will happen to mail addressed to current Main Street Post Office PO boxes?? When exactly will the PO close? Were people and businesses with PO boxes notified well in advance of this closing and provided with alternate local POs with available PO boxes?
The Post Office is closing Jan. 26, 2024
Great point. I have had an address there for my business for years. This doesn’t give me much time to change that EVERYWHERE and no, I haven’t seen a notice yet, but I haven’t been to check the box over the holidays.
The comment above from Ms Civetta is well put. We really want a Watertown Square/city center that has some charm, character and interest. And a city center post office is integral to a center designed for the community!! (Will it really return in 2 years??). Sadly, Watertown has the look and feel of a “drive through” city with box “architecture”. I sure hope town officials and the Planning Board read this . Mr Proakis knows well, from Somerville, what an interesting and diverse community can look like. I’ve been living in Watertown now for 10 years and have a sinking feeling about the type of development that has happened in that time and what lies in the future. It appears the Planning Board lets all new, cheaper designs go on unopposed in any significant way. The current ugly new development on Main Street is a depressing illustration of what I am talking about with 2 years more to unfold.
What plans are in place to accommodate the boxes located inside the Post Office where many residents and businesses receive their mail?
Excellent post Libby, I for one didn’t account for that part. While some may be glad of other locations, I really have to wonder if the CDPD actually takes into account the fact of residents losing services when the developer comes forward with their plans. I never got the feeling that the Post Office was part of O’Conners plan, only after residents complained about the loss, did they take some interest. More so now, as one stated about walking, along with others of how more secure it is to drop your mail at the Post Office than the drop box, due to the rise in theft. Never in my lifetime did I ever think I’d have to to the P O, instead of the good old corner mail box,
I just checked with local non-profit Trees for Watertown’s Treasurer, who tends TFW’s longstanding PO Box (since the 1980’s). TFW hasn’t received any advance notice of the January 26 closing date from the USPS, in fact the Treasurer recently sent USPS its check for next year’s PO Box rent.
This small nonprofit, along with all other current PO Box renters, must immediately find and secure an alternate PO Box, get the annual rent payment transferred, and notify all potential mail senders that its mailing address has changed.
The USPS is abandoning residents and local businesses with PO Boxes in the City of Watertown’s central, main post office like this. One more symptom that the USPS is horribly broken and must be fixed!
Is this the first time anyone has raised the concern about PO Box customers? And what about other services this central post office provides, related to shipping and receiving packages? Why didn’t Watertown’s city government make interim provision of Watertown Square post office services a top level priority for approval of this development?
All excellent replies. We should remember the name Stephen Doherty, the P.O. Communications Specialist. He stated that theP.O. hoped to move back. If not there, Santander is a good alternative-space in the back and a large facility.
It is distressing that Watertown’s Main Street Post Office will be closing on January 26, 2024.
It appears there is no temporary location identified or an accommodation made by the Developer or the City’s Administration. An employee of the Post Office told me a Realtor, employed by the Postal Service, tried to secure a two-year lease to no avail.
Apparently, the Developer will allow a Post Office on-site once they have completed the project. However, most Developers know how, and can accommodate a business of interest and work around it until a permanent location is constructed for the final move.
What we see occurring within the City is the essence of hypocrisy. Out of one mouth it is said “The Walk-able City”; conduct a study of the Square while at the same time disregarding the value of Government Center its governmental buildings and essential services, as well as, a central U.S. Post Office.
I look upon Government Center as the Hub of the City. This area is “Walk-able” from every area of the City.
Update from TFW’s Treasurer, who contacted Councilor Piccirilli today about the concern regarding lost PO Boxes — Councilor Piccirilli says the Main Street PO Boxes will be moved to the Galen Street post office for the duration of construction, which preserves resident and business PO Box numbers. That’s a relief.
Again, so many questions and so few answers.
Is anyone thinking about the visually impaired people who frequent the square and the post office? They know their way there, but to walk up to Galen St. may be unfamiliar to them and cause extra stress and inconvenience in their lives. Has anyone notified Perkins?
Is there a sign on the door letting people know of this closure date? I asked someone who recently went there and she did not see one. Are they attempting to keep it a secret from many people so they won’t get so many complaints now?
Planning and communication are once again missing in Watertown, but sadly we are getting used to that.
I’m also concerned about the P.O. Box that our small non profit organization has been using for the last several years. What are we going to do? Where will the mail that goes to our post office box be?
Please let us know,
Thank you
Marilyn Salvas
Watertown Community Garden
It sounds like the PO boxes will move to the Newtown Post Office on Galen Street.
Once again developers have won and residents ignored which is why I and so many others have given up. Our town is gone and only greed remains. Truly sad.
Woke? The Postmaster General is a Trump appointee.
Still it is terribly disappointing that a temporary location could not be found. It’s hard to figure out who is to blame. But it is bad to lose an essential service upon which many rely.
The PO must return to Watertown Square. That’s an entirely reasonable ask.
Yes, and his whole purpose has been to ruin the postal service! I still can’t believe he’s still there!
Watertown is a diverse and vibrant community & economy with a government that says it’s focused on ensuring we stay that way.
You cannot do that by allowing an Essential service to become functionally inaccessible to most and completely inaccessible to others
Late in the game or not
I would URGE the city to find a property owner willing to work with them to provide a temporary solution for this federally & functionally recognized ESSENTIAL service.
How was there no temporary location secured before destroying the current post office? Unbelievably irresponsible. As a person who cannot drive due to disability, I relied on this location due to the proximity of the bus stop. Once again, the disabled are ignored.