Oak Creek, the United States Postal Service and developer Cobalt Partners have to come to terms on a preliminary agreement that would push back the deadline to construct a postal facility at the corner of College and Pennsylvania by two years.

But the memorandum of understanding passed Tuesday night by the Common Council also allows for the possibility of a different development altogether for those empty 64 acres on the city's northeast side.

And at this point, that scenario seems far more likely than the original plan for an 800,000-square-foot mail distribution center, proposed in 2008 shortly before the economy faltered. Though the Oak Creek facility was designed to increase efficiency and ultimately save the USPS money - the building would replace the downtown Milwaukee distribution center - the finances simply aren't there for the postal service to invest in a large construction project.

"The postal service is projected to lose $10 billion this year. They're closing facilities," said Scott Yauck of Cobalt Partners, a Milwaukee development firm working on the project, at Tuesday's council meeting. "There's benefit of getting out of downtown regardless, (for) operating efficiency, but they don't have the capital to do those things right now.

"This is really intended to allow for the exploration of other possibilities."

The council approved the MOU, which also addresses the College Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. reconstruction projects, on a 5-0 vote that is subject to a final review by City Attorney Larry Haskin. Haskin couldn't be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

The plan is far from finalized. Several steps, including a public hearing on the proposal, still remain and are expected to take another six to eight weeks to complete.