Postal Service to Remain Tenants in Old Town Post Office Building

The historic building at 9108 Center St. will continue to be the home of the U.S. Post Office, despite the building changing ownership in November.

Brothers Peter, Tim and Nick Veltsistas, owners of the neighboring City Tavern on Main Street, placed the winning bid on the building last month.

The Veltsistas paid $355,000 for the building to the U.S. Marshals service, which seized it after its previous owner was convicted of federal fraud charges, according to News and Messenger reports.

Manassas City Council considered a memorandum this month that “puts the world on notice” that the city has the right to keep the post office there,  Manassas city attorney Mark Crim said.

“… The post office is there and the post office is going to remain there as long as it wants to,” Crim said during the Dec. 10 council meeting.

The city rents the property from the current owners, then sublets it to the U.S. Postal Service, the city attorney said.

The Veltisistas’ bid on the property is considerably lower than a winning bid placed on the property in April that was rejected by the U.S. Marshal Service.

by the owners of Carmello’s Restaurant in Old Town Manasas, were rejected by the marshals for being too low, according to News and Messenger reports.

The newspaper reported the U.S. Marshals Service had the building listed around $600,000.

The federal agency gained ownership of the building after 52-year-old Linda Sadr, of Manassas was convicted and ordered to serve 12 months in prison for orchestrating a fraudulent mortgage elimination scheme that bilked homeowners out of millions of dollars.

Sadr was also ordered by a judge to pay more than $9 million in restitution to the victims and her time in jail will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Sadr purchased the building in 2006.