Postal Property

Did you know ownership of the U.S. Post Office at 12 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville recently changed hands?

Central United Methodist Church, at 6 W. Dickson St., paid $3.3 million for the 2.45-acre property adjacent to its campus.

Dallas physician Stanley F. Franklin and his sister, Barbara Franklin Weissberger, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, were the sellers, through their Barbstan Partners LTD. They inherited the property from their parents in 2006, and it had been in their family since Sydney Franklin bought the land from Collier Rexall Drug Store Inc. in April 1962.

The post office will continue to operate as usual. The Franklins had been leasing the 39,222-SF building to the U.S. Postal Service since it opened in December 1962. USPS has about 25,000 leased spaces throughout the country.

The church has long sought to acquire the property for potential development in the future, and now owns the entire block from Dickson to Lafayette streets, between St. Charles and Highland avenues.

It will continue in the long-term landlord role and collect $123,705 in annual rent from the U.S. government. The current lease ends July 31, 2016, but an automatic five-year renewal will kick in after that.

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville financed the church’s acquisition.