A plan to move the Aurora post office to the Heary Building is on hold as village officials determine the next step without Wells College.

The U.S. Postal Service has planned for more than three years to move out of a village-owned building at 373 Main St. and into its historic home next door.

The Heary Building, 371 Main St., is owned by the Aurora Foundation, a partnership of the college and alumna Pleasant Rowland. However, the college stated in a recent letter to the postal service it would look at other tenants for the Heary Building space, USPS spokeswoman Maureen Marion said Wednesday.

"We read this letter as kind of saying the Heary Building is off the table," she said.

The foundation had offered to pay for renovations to the Heary Building and demolition of the current post office, which was built about 50 years ago, to make room for parking in the crowded village center. In exchange, the village would receive access to about 1,000 feet of Cayuga lakefront property owned by the college.

Now, the postal service needs a lease extension or another plan for relocation possibly outside the center of the village.

"We're waiting for guidance or a conversation with the village," Marion said. "If we need to go in a completely different direction, it could take two years."

The postal service's lease with the village ends in March 2009, adding urgency to the situation.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.