The man who made the highest bid at the post office auction and the woman who trumped him hours later will meet tomorrow to "discuss his ideas", a spokesman for Ms McKay's office said.

"Jodi is happy to meet with Jerry and discuss his ideas and see if they can be incorporated into what the government's wanting to do," the spokesman said.

"He wasn't the last bidder in the process but in terms of what he was proposing, we were very supportive of that."

The announcement came within hours of The Herald contacting Ms McKay's office for comment after Dr Schwartz criticised the government's plans for offices in the iconic building.

"Offices? Don't they already have enough office space in Newcastle?" Dr Schwartz said.

The building's design meant offices would be difficult to plan and the lack of parking was a serious handicap, he said.

Dr Schwartz said he was happy the building was in public ownership but believed the city would be better served by having a function centre on the site than offices.

"There's demand for function space in Newcastle. The hotel [Crowne Plaza] is limited in what it can offer by the size of the largest function room available. My idea was always to develop the beautiful old building into a function centre to complement the hotel."

Dr Schwartz said he wanted his continuing interest in the building to be publicised "in big writing".

He was surprised by the phone call , but said he shared people's concerns that the post office could remain "in decay for the next 10 years" unless a firm plan for its future was decided and acted on.

Dr Schwartz, a Sydney cosmetic surgeon and head of the Schwartz Family Company, owns nine hotels including the Crowne Plaza, and Australia's oldest purpose-built hotel, the Victoria in Melbourne.