The last postmark stamped at the post office at 90 Church Street was Sept. 11, 2001; the next will be a date in early August 2004.

Last month, dozens of construction workers were busy hammering, drilling and running cables to prepare the 15-story building for its reopening. Dust coated the pale brown marble walls and the black marble-topped tables, but it was no longer residue from the World Trade Center collapse; it was the powder from freshly installed sheetrock. In July, the final painting and polishing was to be completed.

		As of late last month, an exact date for the August opening had not been set. But, as a U.S. Postal Service supervisor in the building put it, "All the hard work is done." That work entailed the interior demolition and renovation of the three post office floors and 12 upper floors of offices, and took nearly two years to complete. After the towers collapsed, the floor of the magnificent ground-level lobby was covered in a layer of dust and papers a foot thick, higher where it had blown into drifts. Debris from the towers and surrounding buildings crashed through the windows. Scattered fires set off the sprinklers. Cleanup was delayed by months of environmental testing and discussions between Boston Properties, which manages the building, and the office tenants, the Legal Aid Society and the New York City Housing Authority. Finally, in April 2002, it was determined that the interior was so permeated with asbestos, mercury, lead dust, mold and other contaminants that nearly all of the walls, carpets and fixtures had to be demolished and removed. Workers were required to wear protective hazardous materials suits and respirators to go beyond the building entrance. The demolition was completed in November 2003. After more environmental testing to determine that the building was safe, the renovations began. The total cost was at least $20 million. The cream and black marble walls and columns and silver art deco chandeliers of the post office's landmarked lobby, which had undergone a

multi-million dollar renovation in the 1990s, were thoroughly cleaned and restored. The building's exterior, constructed in 1935 of a sturdy brownish-grey limestone, sustained little damage despite debris impacts on two sides, from the trade center towers to the south and 7 World Trade to the west. Eight hundred windows were replaced.


Because of the pervasive contamination, so many sheets of stamps had to be disposed of that it took weeks to inventory and shred them all. The Postal Service would give no dollar figure for the amount of stamps and cash that were lost.

The day after the terrorist attack, postal inspectors and national guardsmen removed all the mail. They formed a human chain, handing bin after bin from person to person and on to trucks. From there the mail was taken to the James A. Farley post office building at 33rd Street and 8th Avenue to be sorted.

Seven hundred postal employees were reassigned. The World Trade Center alone had 10 postal carrier routes and received more than 85,000 pieces of mail a day. "More than some small towns have," said Postal Service spokeswoman Pat McGovern. Nearly three years after the World Trade Center ceased to exist as an address, the Postal Service still receives mail for the complex. That mail, mostly automated mass mailings, is marked "return to sender."

In the aftermath of the attack, residents and businesses from the seven Church Street station zip codes had to line up on 8th Avenue at the Farley post office to collect their mail. Gradually, as more of the Downtown area became accessible, mail carriers resumed their regular deliveries, traveling to their routes from midtown in vans or by subway. Post office box holders have continued to pick up their mail at the Farley station-but that will change next month. In a room just off the south lobby, 4,000 new post office boxes were being installed late last month. When people pick up their mail, the room will look much as it did three years ago, though with the notable and disturbing difference in the view onto Vesey Street.

Although the hard work of rebuilding is nearly complete, moving in and gearing up the Church Street operation holds another challenge: not missing a day of delivery.

The last part of the move will take place over a weekend, so the carriers will make Saturday deliveries from midtown and then have everything in place for Monday deliveries from Church Street.

"There are a lot of details. Everything from having paper towels in the restrooms to getting the mail there, and everything in between," said McGovern.

For residents and business people who have been trekking to other Downtown post offices-Wall Street, Peck Slip and Canal Street-the reopening of the Church Street building is welcome news.

Jody Leight, a lawyer with an office on Vesey Street, who was shopping at the newly reinstated World Trade Center Greenmarket, said she was delighted.

"It will be the end of having to walk a mile out of my way to buy stamps," she said.

The first tenants, New York City Housing Authority employees, will return to the upper floors of the building this month.

The New York State Department of Health will also be moving into the building, although earlier this year more than 200 Health Department employees signed a petition protesting the move, because of concerns about safety and the anticipated noise and disruption from impending construction. The Legal Aid Society has permanently relocated.

As for the many customers and workers eager to return, McGovern said, "Pretty soon we'll be telling them 'Welcome home."'