COLUMBIANA, Ohio — The closure of Rite Aid left large vacant retail properties across the Mahoning Valley, but their locations and flexible construction could give many of the former pharmacies a second life.
Don Thomas, managing partner at Platz Realty Group in Canfield, says former Rite Aids that were built across the Mahoning Valley and have become available with the closure of the pharmacy chain have primarily three footprints ranging between 11,000 and 15,000 square feet.
“All of those are balloon-style construction and so they can be repurposed to anything,” Thomas says, adding someone looking at one in Columbiana is considering creating five small retail spaces within the Rite Aid.
Some people invested in those buildings as cap rate investments while Rite Aid was there and Thomas says some remain vacant because those investors are unwilling to take a huge loss. Yet with good construction and good location, Thomas says they are starting to move and he believes many will be repurposed.
At least one in the Cornersburg area is slated to be torn down with a Sheetz built in that spot, Thomas says.
Read the full story in the September issue of The Business Journal.
Pictured at top: a former Rite Aid building in Girard, Ohio.