The post office in Trafford is staying where it is, despite the building being sold, but the U.S. Postal Service has not been able to find a suitable site for another office in the West Hempfield village of Wendel.

The post office in Trafford will remain at 411 Cavitt Ave., said Mark Lawrence, a Postal Service spokesman.

Pennsylvania Postal Holdings Inc. of Cedarhurst, N.Y., which manages post office buildings in multiple states, purchased the building for $400,000 from John M. and Suzanne H. Pultan in September , according to the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.

The company also owns the post office site at 185 Ligonier St., New Florence, which it purchased in 2019 for $175,875.

Pennsylvania Postal Holdings is one of a group of limited liability companies and partnerships operated by Postal Holdings. It shares the same Cedarhurst, N.Y., address as Postal Realty Trust Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns and manages about 1,200 properties leased to the Postal Service, according to its website.

In its 2020 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Postal Realty said it owned 65 properties in Pennsylvania that it leased to the Postal Service. It operates in 49 states. As of the first nine months of 2021, its Pennsylvania properties generated $27.7 million, or 18%, of its revenue, according to its quarterly financial report.

A Postal Realty Trust spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Residents of the village of Wendel, however, are not as lucky as those in Trafford. The Postal Service lost its lease for the site in February 2021 and has not found a suitable replacement in the small community, Alexander said.

About 100 residents who were served by that post office — there wasn’t any home delivery — are forced to drive about 5 miles to the Manor Post Office to get their mail. The Adamsburg Post Office is closer but does not have the space, Lawrence said.

Hempfield officials contacted U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Washington, last year about the closing of the post office in Wendel and sent him a petition from residents seeking a new location, said Jason Winters, township manager.

One of those residents who has been inconvenienced by the closure was Keith Milton.

“A two-minute trip has turned into a 20-minute expedition,” the Wendel resident stated, adding that a community meeting about the closure was never held.

“Many people who live in Wendel are senior citizens, and we’ve lost not only the convenience of a local post office but a community center,” he said, referring to people who gathered and saw each other at the post office.

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