The Bronx General Post Office Has Been Sold for $44 Million—But Will It Finally Be Revived or Join a Legacy of Broken Promises?

Another chapter has turned for one of The Bronx’s most iconic buildings. The Bronx General Post Office, located at 558 Grand Concourse at East 149th Street, has officially sold for $44 million to a new developer. The sale, first reported by Crain’s New York Business, marks the second time the landmark has changed hands since the U.S. Postal Service sold it in 2014.

But the real question is: will this change anything? Or is this just another hollow deal in a long line of failed promises to revive our borough’s historic treasures?

From Bold Promises to a Decade of Silence

When Youngwoo & Associates purchased the historic post office for $19 million over a decade ago, they promised a sweeping transformation—what they called “Bronx Post Place.” It was pitched as a vibrant cultural and commercial hub with restaurants, a food market, offices, and public gathering space. The historic Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson murals would be preserved. The rooftop would host community events. It was supposed to be a gift to The Bronx.

To their credit, the murals and the lobby were fully restored and preserved, with extensive work completed by 2015. But aside from the opening of Zona de Cuba in 2019—a rooftop restaurant and lounge—the building has largely sat silent and underused. Floors of the once-grand civic space remain dark. The promised revitalization never materialized.

And now it’s been flipped—at more than double the price—to a new developer, Maddd Equities who is no stranger to The Bronx—but  hasn’t revealed what awaits the old, beloved landmark.

A Pattern We Know Too Well in The Bronx

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is.

The Bronx General Post Office isn’t the only landmark that’s suffered under the weight of big promises and little follow-through.

Take the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse on Third Avenue and 161st Street. That grand Beaux-Arts building—vacant since the late 1970s—was supposed to be reborn as a charter school which eventually fell through leaving the landmark to remain vacant for yet another decade.

Then there’s the Kingsbridge Armory. Once the world’s largest armory, the site has been the subject of community dreams and developer spin for over 25 years. Promised plans have ranged from shopping malls to ice rinks to community centers. Yet here we are in 2025, and it’s still empty although there’s promise that it will come back to life.

It’s a painful trend: developers swoop in with slick presentations and high-minded rhetoric, often with the backing of city agencies. But when it’s time to deliver? The people of The Bronx are left with empty buildings, broken timelines, and vacant promises.

Will This Time Be Different?

The new owners of the Bronx General Post Office have inherited more than a real estate deal—they’ve inherited the baggage of history, broken trust, and deep community skepticism.

If they’re serious about revitalizing this building, they’ll need to:

Be transparent— Tell us your plan. Engage the community, not just investors.

Honor the landmark—The building’s historic character—including its murals and restored lobby.

Create something meaningful—No more empty offices or overpriced commercial space. We need real community benefits, affordable spaces, and jobs for Bronx residents.

Otherwise, this sale will go down as just another in a long string of speculative flips disguised as “revitalization.”

We’ve Seen the Playbook—We’re Not Buying the Hype

The Bronx has always been treated like a blank canvas for outside developers—our stories, our history, our landmarks are used as selling points, but rarely preserved with integrity or handed back to the community. We’re tired of seeing our buildings languish under empty promises.

The sale of the Bronx General Post Office for $44 million could be an opportunity. But if history is any indicator, it could just as easily be another broken promise, another landmark swallowed by silence.