"The post office was not just where people got their mail," Sound Beach Civic Association president Bea Ruberto told TBR News Media. "It was a meeting place."
That meeting place at 25 New York Ave. closed in late May 2023 for structural repairs. For the next three years, Sound Beach PO box holders and counter customers went to the Miller Place Post Office, about 2 miles away. Several reopening dates were announced and missed along the way. The record shows a pattern. Dates set before the building's owner sued the federal government slipped, and so did a date set soon after the case settled. A date that held only came once the legal and repair work after the settlement had been finished.
What's Back at 25 New York Ave.
On July 27, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service announced that full retail and PO box service would resume at Sound Beach on Saturday, Aug. 1. The USPS location page for Sound Beach, NY 11789 now lists regular hours for the office.
- Retail counter: weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed Sundays
- PO box access: weekdays 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Your old key: PO box customers keep their current keys, and no change of address is required
- Mail left in Miller Place: USPS said any Sound Beach box mail still at Miller Place would be moved securely to Sound Beach
That covers the practical side. The rest of the story explains why getting here took more than three years.
The Building Belonged to Someone Else
The Postal Service doesn't own the Sound Beach office. When it closed, USPS told Newsday the site was leased and that it was working with the owner. TBR News Media reported that USPS expected the landlord to make the repairs. The owner is Sixteen Broadway Corp., a Brooklyn company that bought the 3,360-square-foot building in 2014. Newsday identified Israel Frankel as its CEO.
The physical problems were real. Residents had already pointed to a leaking ceiling as an earlier repair issue. A government engineer's September inspection report found that load-bearing walls had bowed more than an inch. It said the building's structural integrity needed to be confirmed or repaired, and it also noted rusty poles at the loading dock.
Because the building was leased, the repairs sat with one party and the mail service with another. Every reopening date depended on the two of them agreeing.
The Dates That Came and Went
Here is how the closure played out, in the order it was reported:
| When | What was said or done | What followed |
|---|---|---|
| Late May 2023 | Office closes for structural problems | Service moves to Miller Place |
| Aug. 8, 2023 | Rep. Nick LaLota writes to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy; USPS tells his office to check back in September for a timeline | No timeline came |
| Sept. 8, 2023 | USPS had expected the landlord to finish repairs and reopen by this date | Office stays closed; no work permits had been filed |
| Dec. 8, 2023 | LaLota introduces the Mobile Post Office Relief Act | Still awaiting a vote as of June 2024 |
| February 2024 | Landlord sues the federal government over unpaid rent | Case runs more than a year |
| May 2025 | Settlement reported; terms not disclosed | LaLota posts that repairs will move forward |
| November 2025 | Civic meeting hears the office is set to reopen in January | January passes |
| July 27, 2026 | USPS announces Aug. 1 reopening | Regular hours now posted |
The September 2023 target is the one that matters most. It passed without a single work permit on file, so whatever was holding things up had little to do with construction.
The Rent Dispute Underneath
In February 2024, Sixteen Broadway sued the federal government. It claimed $40,775.23 in unpaid rent plus interest, and Newsday reported the monthly rent at $8,778. That claim works out to roughly four and a half months of rent, which suggests the two sides fell out over money soon after the doors closed.
The two sides also disagreed about the building itself. The landlord's lawsuit argued that the government engineer had not found the building unsafe. The engineer's report described bowed walls and said structural integrity needed to be confirmed or repaired. No repair schedule was announced while that disagreement sat in federal court.
The case settled with a filing dated May 22, 2025, which did not disclose the terms. On May 30, 2025, LaLota posted on Facebook that USPS and the landlord had agreed to move ahead with repairs. Even then, Newsday reported in June 2025 that the reopening date, the cost of the repairs and who would pay were all still unknown. USPS answered the first question with its July 2026 announcement. Local reports since then have not said what the repairs cost or who paid for them.
The Estimate That Held
After the settlement, TBR reported that more legal filings were still needed, a lot of physical work remained, and flooding and structural damage may have gotten worse while the building sat empty. Ruberto didn't treat the settlement as the finish line. "I will be very surprised if the post office is not closed for another year," she said. "This kind of stuff takes a long time."
She turned out to be close. The settlement filing was dated May 2025, and USPS set Aug. 1, 2026 for service to resume. That's about 14 months, a little longer than her year. The January 2026 date reported at the civic's November meeting was more hopeful and was replaced by the July announcement.
Her estimate held up because she counted from the end of the court case, and the record shows the job couldn't really start until then. The settlement still left repairs, inspections and further filings to work through.
Who Kept the Pressure On
The civic association didn't wait quietly. It sent out mass mailings, ran petitions and organized rallies. On Sept. 6, 2023, Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine, Deputy Supervisor Dan Panico, Councilwoman Jane Bonner, Ruberto and a representative of LaLota's office stood together at a Town press conference. They called for the office to reopen or for a new local facility to be found.
LaLota's office asked USPS to send a mobile post office unit, and USPS declined. His Mobile Post Office Relief Act would require a mobile retail unit with PO box service whenever a post office closes temporarily. The bill grew directly out of what happened in Sound Beach.
TBR also reported that the office's three postal clerks, well known in the community, were glad to be heading back. The civic began planning a celebration for when the office reopened.
Where the Civic Meets Next
The same group that kept the post office in the news has a busy fall. The Sound Beach Civic Association's schedule includes a candidate forum for the U.S. 1st Congressional District on Oct. 12 and a New York State Senate candidate forum on Oct. 19. Its final meeting of 2026 is a meet-and-greet on Nov. 9. General meetings are held at the Sound Beach Firehouse, 152 Sound Beach Blvd., at 7:30 p.m.
A three-year closure caused by a lease dispute is a reminder that who owns a building can shape a neighborhood as much as the building does. If you own a home in Sound Beach and want to know how changes along New York Avenue affect what your property is worth, Donna Lomenzo can walk you through the local numbers. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and you'll get a clear, honest picture from someone who follows this community closely.
