USPS

This case involves a dispute over a lease and purchase option between the Bellevue Post Office LLC (Bellevue) and the United States Postal Service (USPS). In 1963, USPS and Bellevue’s predecessor-in-interest entered into a twenty-year initial lease with five options to renew the lease and an option to purchase the property. When USPS attempted to exercise the purchase option, Bellevue refused to honor it, arguing that the lease had terminated as early as 1983 because USPS had failed to strictly comply with the option requirements for the lease renewals. The district court granted summary judgment for USPS and ordered specific performance of the sale of the property. We affirm.

FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

The lease in this dispute spans a fifty-year time period, during which the parties to the contract changed several times. The contractual relationship began in 1963, when Baugh Construction Company (Baugh) and USPS entered into a lease for a certain parcel of real property in Belle-vue, Washington. Since that time, USPS has continuously operated a branch Post Office location on the property. The 1963 lease featured an initial twenty-year term, to be followed by options…