By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - By June, residents may have a new home for the post office here.

City workers have begun renovating a 3,000-square-foot building on Kumler Avenue that will double municipal office space by summer.

North College Hill purchased the building, which had housed a bank, dry cleaners and sporting-goods store, about three years ago for $95,000, said safety-service director Jerry Thamann.

The city is spending $4,300 on lumber, dry wall, carpet, paint and fixtures to fix up the building, which was built in the 1950s, said Mayor Dan Brooks. The remodeling will be done by public works crews and volunteers.

All Star Screen Printing will remain in the building.

The city is shooting for June 1 to have its business and administrative offices, as well as the post office, in the Kumler Avenue building.

The move accompanies cleanup of "low-level contamination" of the soil in the back of the building, Thamann said.

The city received a $194,000 grant last year from the Clean Ohio Fund, which will pay for the remediation work, he said.

Council chambers and the mayor's court will remain in the current City Hall, Brooks said.

The move will free up space for the police department to expand later in the year, he said.

"Instead of cramming five people in one room, we can have space where these people can work. So for $4,300, we're gaining a whole bunch," Brooks said.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com