So... we bought a Post Office.

Saunders Station US Post Office - 2015

Something I never planned on doing when we started our business in 2008 was to buy a building. In 2015, we ended up buying a Post Office. That is right, a POST OFFICE. Definitely chalk it up as one of the coolest things I’ll be a part of in business and life. But it is the details leading up to making this happen that make this story so interesting.

In 2012, Jeff and I were evaluating moving out of the Corrugated Box, a shared workspace that had been the home of ours for three years. I honestly didn’t know if we would have enough to actually buy something, but learning about the market and what we might be able to do one day seemed smart. So we started looking around.

It was during that time that we learned about the Saunders Station Post Office building located in Richmond. It was being sold by the Post Office and overall for a pretty good deal. So we decided to go and take a look.

It was trashed. Even though the Post Office was still operating out of it, most of the building was not being used due to water damage and deteriorated finishes. It was actually during this visit in literally the darkest and most forsaken room of the building that used to serve for storing coal, that Jeff and I both looked at each other and fell in love with the idea of what this building could be. I also felt like that building was supposed to be ours.

Unfortunately, a few days later the Post Office was taken off of the market. Maybe that instinct had been wrong. We renewed our lease for another three years at the Corrugated Box and decided we would think about it all again in a few years.

When 2015 came around we literally spent months hunting around for a good solution for our company. We were over 30 people and the idea of having our own space that we could continue to grow in seemed ideal. To add to it, we had recently closed a big deal for us with Yahoo where we felt like we were in a better position to get a place of our own.

Literally, a week after giving up the search, our realtor called us and gave us a surprise. The Post Office was back on the market. Only this time, it was a short-term quick sale with no price mentioned.

So we did what any good business person would do. We made a book and pitched why the building should go to Mobelux. We put together a plan with an architect, our realtor, a bank and with the help of our company creative director, made our pitch.

It was supposed to be a bidding process cut down to 2-3 finalists. They said that they didn’t need to do that and we moved forward. To add a little last minute drama, I ended up flying back from Florida where I was in the middle of an adoption process for our daughter to get the deal done. To say that was a big week is an understatement.

The next year and a half would be spent restoring this wonderful building, gaining us some national acclaim where we landed in the top 10 of new office spaces on uncrate’s list. More importantly, we had our new home for Mobelux.