The USPS determined that carrier activities should be relocated to an annex away from the main Waterloo, Iowa Post Office building to relieve crowding, to promote employee safety and to process mail more efficiently. Howard R. Green Company (HR Green) drew upon its experience in commercial and industrial development, site planning and community development to assist the USPS in the final evaluation of six sites considered for the new facility. A three-acre site was selected on the southwest side of Waterloo along US Highway 63 near its junction with US Highway 20.

The USPS then engaged HR Green to provide architectural and engineering design services for their new facility. The new annex would accommodate as many as seventy carriers, but would offer no retail services to the public. The use of a template design prepared by the USPS for an annex to serve this number of carriers streamlined the design process for the 11,000 square foot annex building. Geography entitled this facility to also have attached, covered parking to protect the fleet of postal vehicles. HR Green designed a secure, covered parking area covering 28,100 square feet for up to 72 vehicles. The security designed into the covered postal vehicle parking area allowed the elimination of a security fence around the perimeter of the property and the use of more landscaping materials.

Careful site development provides paved parking for seventy-nine postal employee vehicles, on-site vehicle circulation, storm water detention and extensive landscaping. Site design was complicated by a utility easement for a storm sewer running from the front of the property to the back at about the one-third point along the property’s width. Storm water detention is divided into two cells separated by a driveway that circles around the building providing access to the dock for semi-trailer trucks.