COPY


Box 484
December 9, 1963





Mr. Tyler Abell
Associate General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Post Office Department
Washington, D. C. 20260

Dear Mr. Abell:

I thank you very much for your letter of November
27, informing us that the Post Office Department has approved
a project for leasing space for postal purposes in St. Augus-
tine, which will give us the opportunity to request of G.S.A.
the present post office quarters, which will be surplus.

The Postmaster here heard immediately from the
office at Atlanta, which has given this highest priority, and
their re&l estate negotiator has already been in town seeking
a site. I believe they are going to proceed on this very
speedily.

Thank you again for all your help in the matter.

Cordially,

EWN/mr
cc: Rep. Matthews
Mr. H. E. Wolfe Earle W. Newton
Director General




reference ;ae
.b rt said.

OSt OFFICE LEASES
ARE CALLED COSTLY

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (AP)
-The Post Office Department
(as told today that it could
save money by building post
offices instead of leasing them.
The General Accounting Of-
fice, reporting on a study of 91
small leased post offices, said
that leasing costs over a 20-
i year period would be $4,900,000
more than the cost of owning
them. And in addition the Gov-
ernment would have title to the
land if it put up its own build-
ings.
The Post Office Department
is now leasing 9,900 post offices
for $51,500,000 a year.
The accounting office recom-
mended that the department de-
termine on an individual basis
whether it was better to lease
or build a post office, rather
than to set down a blanket
leasing policy as at present.
The report includes a com-
ment from the department that
the need for flexibility in op-
erating its post offices makes
leasing more advantageous for
the Government.
S.... '""Yents Cut




ThEVshould send the stock
market up a few more points.
HERE AND aIERE:
George Abell, wh ay be
described from now on as the
father-in-law of the new so-
cial secretary at the White
House, is back from his Eu-
ropean wanderings, having
acquired some Spanish real
estate. So enchanted was he
with the Andalusian coast,
which is unspoiled in a way
the Costa Brava can no long-
er claim to be, he bought an
old house that lies on a
cone-shaped mountain in the
old Moorish town of Moja-
car. He will have to start
from scratch to fix it up, but
he plans to do that and pos-
sibly rent it if he doesn't use
it himself. .. He also put in
an offer on an almond and
olive grove.
News comes from Germany