Developer’s eviction case against Postal Service delivered to federal court

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A developer’s lawsuit seeking to evict the U.S. Postal Service from its office in downtown Milwaukee has landed in federal court.

Chicago-based R2 Companies, which owns the building USPS now occupies at 344 W. St. Paul Ave., filed an eviction action in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in August, claiming the postal service had let the sprawling building it has rented for decades to fall into disrepair.

U.S. attorneys representing the postal service in late September argued the case should be heard in federal court. Attorneys for R2 are Eric J Van Schyndle and Avi Niemuth, both of Milwaukee firm Quarles & Brady.

R2 and Polsky Holdings, also of Chicago, purchased the building on St. Paul Avenue, which is along the Menominee River within walking distance of Milwaukee’s Third Ward, in 2015 for $13 million and inherited USPS as a tenant.

The post office has occupied the space since 1970 and has options to renew its lease though 2040. In 2016, the company released a proposal in 2016 calling for a $100 million project that would bring offices, restaurants and retail space to the building, should USPS move out.

In a series of tweets in August, Matt Garrison, R2’s managing principal, said the company had been prodding the post office to make repairs for about five months before it filed eviction papers. The developer argues USPS took no action to correct the damage despite the developer’s repeated notifications that repairs were needed.

The USPS responded only after a lawyer representing R2 made an eviction threat in a letter dated July 10. A lawyer for the USPS wrote in an email to the company the next day that the postal service was “looking into taking action to remedy the breach.”

The developer claims “grass, moss, plants, bird droppings and debris” as well as a leak were all found on the roof of the 1.1-million-square-foot building after an inspection. Officials from the company toured the building in March and found further damage, including “obvious” signs of deteriorating concrete on the building’s east parking ramp.

USPS has until Oct. 23 to file a response to R2’s eviction claims. Follow @“natebeck9”