In less than two year’s time, Bellevue will be down one of its three post offices.

The Bellevue Way and Midlakes branches will close by mid 2013, and retail operations will be moved to a new facility in downtown Bellevue, representatives from the United States Postal Service announced Monday evening.

Russel Rainey, a real estate specialist for USPS’ Western Facilities Office said Monday the changes are part of a national campaign to close offices to save $2.1 billion annually for the government agency.

“Due to the challenging economic times we all live in, the Post Service finds itself needing to close some offices and consolidate others,” Rainey said.

USPS decided in September to close or consolidate as many as 677 post offices throughout the country, with approximately 250 set for full closure. As a result of this, customers will no longer be able to send and receive next-day mail.

Bellevue’s Crossroads branch will remain unaffected, Rainey said.

USPS officials will now search for a new location for a facility. The boundaries for the location of the new facility consist of of Northeast 12th Street on the north side, Main Street on the south end, 120th Avenue Northeast to the east, and 100th Avenue Northeast to the west. Rainey said USPS is looking for 10,000 square feet of retail space, along with room for 80-90 customer parking spots and 10 more for employees, on a 70,000-square foot site, if possible.

USPS will take comments for the next 30 days, and another public input period will be offered once a site is identified.

USPS officials called on the City Council to keep an eye out for possible locations in some of Bellevue’s more populous downtown areas.

“We can’t force them to come to our table, even if they have the perfect spot,” Rainey said.