CUNY Leases Bronx General Post Office Building

The City University of New York (CUNY) will lease the entire Bronx General Post Office building at 558 Grand Concourse.

CUNY’s lease is for 35 years at a cost of $15.5 million the first year — or $88.57 per square foot — followed by an annual escalation of 3 percent. The deal also includes an option for CUNY to purchase the building during the first five years of the lease, according to The City.

It is unclear who brokered the deal.

The university will use the four-story, 175,000-square-foot building, on East 149th Street and Grand Concourse, for the allied health and natural science departments of its nearby Hostos Community College, providing greater capacity for programs that include nursing, surgical technology, occupational therapy and home health care.

The move will allow Hostos to double the size of its graduating classes.

Mayor Eric Adams led a public announcement of the lease on Wednesday.

“Now we will deliver, not mail, but we will deliver thousands of jobs to Bronxites and other people in this city,” Adams said at the event, according to The City. “This is the feeder that’s going to build an entire economic stimulus for this entire area. Why the hell did this post office remain vacant all this time? It would not have remained vacant in central Manhattan, but people wanted to ignore this borough.” 

The building is owned by BPO Owner, which operates out of the same Floral Park, N.Y., address as the development company Maddd Equities. BPO Owner purchased 558 Grand Concourse for $44 million in July 2025 from YoungWoo & Associates and Bristol Group. They had purchased it from the United States Postal Service in 2014 for $19 million, according to reporting in Commercial Observer. 

BPO Owner is handling the building’s redevelopment, which is expected to be complete by fall 2028.

“I have been working with Hostos for nearly a decade, and I am truly proud to have played a role in making this program and building a reality for Hostos and CUNY,” said Jorge Madruga, a partner at BPO Owner and founder and managing principal at Maddd Equities. “Bringing a revered Bronx institution like Hostos Community College into the Bronx General Post Office reflects our long-term vision to revitalize this historic landmark for the benefit of the community.”

The building, which was constructed in 1937, had its exterior designated as a landmark in 1975, followed by the same for its interior in 2013.  

Current tenants include a post office, which will retain around 10,000 square feet on the ground floor for customer service functions, and the restaurant Zona de Cuba, which has 15,000 square feet on the building’s roof. That space will become part of Hostos.  

NOTE: This article has been updated to clarify the building’s ownership.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.