First-class package at the St. Charles historic post office.

Historic post office looking for some much-needed HVAC, electrical and plumbing upgrades to the 106-year-old landmark.

Article by John McNally, PM Engineer

On a recent project, Jacob Randolph had it easy in terms of his commute.

The project engineer with St. Charles, Mo.-based mechanical engineering firm Wiegmann Associates only had to walk about 10 blocks to the city’s historic post office to be onsite and help work through the much-needed HVAC, electrical and plumbing upgrades to the 106-year-old landmark.
“This sits on historic Main St., which is a pretty popular area with a lot of restaurants, bars and little shops,” Randolph says. “Even if you do not recognize it, if you have been on Main St., you have seen this building.”

The facility’s new owner, Randolph explains, felt it was important to preserve as much of the historical aspects as possible. Bringing in a local company such as Wiegmann Associates was integral to that effort.
“We work locally and nationally, but St. Charles is a tight-knit community,” he says. “We worked a lot with Droste & Sons (St. Charles-based general contractor) in the past and they came to us with this project.”

Jeff Droste, the plumbing designer and installer with Droste & Sons, reports the renovations did not go unnoticed by the community. “The project created a buzz downtown,” he says. “It was a neglected building the past 50 years. The previous owner sort of hodgepodged (the work) on the building over the long period of time he owned it. It kind of went into disarray.

“The new owner who bought it owns about a half-dozen buildings around that same area and is very much into restoring buildings into how they originally looked.”
Today, the post office’s new tenant is OPO Startups (or Old Post Office Startups), a business that provides regional startups affordable workspace, access to mentors, possible investors, educational resources and other benefits…read more