More than 70 Rite Aid pharmacies have shuttered or are preparing to close across the Pittsburgh area as the company undergoes bankruptcy and restructuring.
Customers’ prescriptions have been transferred to other pharmacies, but the empty stores will leave a large group of properties — in prime commercial locations across Western Pennsylvania — without tenants.
The former Rite Aid on Greensburg’s East Pittsburgh Street is positioned in the middle of the city’s downtown commercial area. A Penn Hills Rite Aid is just a few hundred feet from one of the town’s busiest intersections, Frankstown and Saltsburg roads.
“It’s a great opportunity for something,” said Greensburg planning director Alec Italiano. “You have ample parking, and it’s in one of the busiest areas in Greensburg. I don’t think most of these places will sit vacant for too long.”
The properties where these Rite Aids are located are owned by a variety of entities, ranging from individuals to limited-liability corporations to international banks such as Wells Fargo. A large number of stores statewide, including one in Monessen, are owned by a company called Rite Aid of Pennsylvania.
Rite Aid officials did not return messages seeking comment.
Pittsburgh real estate firm NAI Burns Scalo is working with owners of a couple Rite Aid properties.
“Every situation is different,” said Curt Starr, NAI Burns Scalo’s senior vice president of corporate advisory services. “Rite Aid owns some of the properties, but they also lease a lot of them, so landlords will have some time to get their tenant situation in order as Rite Aid runs out the terms of those leases.”