5 Months Into The Rite Aid Bankruptcy, 5 Unique Adaptive Reuses of Its Drugstores
Next week will mark 5 months since Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
During that period Rite Aid has already closed - or set for closure - more than 430 of its drugstores.
And if Rite Aid cannot find a buyer, its remaining ~2,000 drugstores may close as well.
Which means that plenty of former drugstore real estate will be available for re-tenanting.
Or, perhaps, creative adaptive reuse projects.
In fact some former Rite Aid drugstores have already been repurposed in rather unique fashion.
So 5 months into the Rite Aid bankruptcy, let’s examine 5 unique adaptive reuses of its former drugstore real estate.
5) Off Leash Dog Park and Restaurant - Alpharetta, GA
A former Rite Aid in Georgia is going to the dogs.
Literally.
An adaptive reuse of a former Rite Aid in Metropolitan Atlanta is under way to transform the building into Off Leash, a combined dog park and full service restaurant.
The ~11,000 square foot former Rite Aid building in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta is being repurposed with approximately 5,000 square feet to be used as a restaurant and coffee bar (for humans) and 6,000 square feet as an indoor play area for dogs.
A 1/2 acre area to the rear of the property is also being converted to an outdoor dog park.
Construction is in process and the venue is expected to open in the coming months.
4) Fitness Depot - Picayune, MS
The 15,000 square foot sf Fitness Depot in Picayune, MS is a locally owned and operated gym that offers a variety of cardio and strength training equipment plus group classes and circuit workouts.
It also happens to be an adaptive reuse of a former freestanding Rite Aid drugstore.
3) Multi-Tenant Strip Center with Milo's Hamburgers, Cahaba Heights, AL
The former Rite Aid drugstore in Birmingham, Alabama suburb of Cahaba Heights closed in 2018.
But unlike many former drugstores that have been backfilled with a single tenant - or still remain vacant - this former Rite Aid building was redeveloped into a multi-tenant strip center that features a Milo's Hamburgers quick service restaurant.
Even the drive-thru was repurposed:
It now facilitates the delivery of fast food rather than prescriptions.
2) Clean Express Car Wash - East McKeesport, PA and Pleasant Hills, PA
Two former Rite Aid drugstores in the greater Pittsburgh area were recently converted into express conveyor belt car wash units.
Express Wash Concepts, the parent company of Clean Express, has utilized not only Rite Aid sites but also several other former drugstore properties as sites for its express wash buildings.
And this past December Express Wash was even approved for a 3rd former Rite Aid-to-car wash conversion in the Metro Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores.
1) Station 411 Community Center (proposed) - Tarentum, PA
In March 2018 Rite Aid closed its drugstore in Tarentum, PA, an old industrial town ~20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Rite Aid had owned the 36,000 square foot, 3 story building in downtown Tarentum where its pharmacy occupied ~13,000 square feet on the ground floor.
But it could not find any buyers for its real estate at its asking price of ~$100,000.
So the historic building – originally built more than a century ago as the Tarentum Opera House – remained vacant for more than a year.
Until the Pastor of the Abundant Joy Fellowship Church wrote a letter to Rite Aid asking that it donate building for use as a community center.
Much to her surprise Rite Aid not only responded to her letter but also proceeded to donate the building to the church in 2019.
And Abundant Joy has been fundraising ever since to renovate the building and transform it into Station 411, a proposed community center with a daycare facility, space for music, art and drama performances and even a commercial kitchen to provide community meals.
Last Fall one church member even completed a 10 day walk of the 150 mile Great Allegheny Passage to raise money and awareness for the project.
He raised ~$4,000 that is set to go towards the eventual adaptive reuse of the building.
