At its peak, Rite Aid had over 1,200 locations in 15 states, with a particular focus on serving lower income communities. Now, after two bankruptcies in three years, Rite Aid is officially out of business, having closed their last two locations this week. The somewhat sudden closure of all these Rite Aid locations has left some prominent vacancies across the country, and Philadelphia is not immune to this phenomenon.

While some of the former Rite Aid spaces may end up sitting vacant for quite some time, others are turning over expeditiously. We can find an example of a quick turnaround at 3216-60 N Broad St., pretty much next door to Temple Hospital’s Main Campus. This address is home to a medium-sized one-story commercial building and includes a liquor store, a PNC Bank branch, and a Pizza Hut, among other retailers. It appears that Rite Aid occupied the largest space in the building, so a prolonged vacancy here would be less than ideal. Fortunately, Temple will be opening medical offices here, freeing up space in the hospital and facilitating emergency room upgrades while bringing a little activity to an intersection a block from the Allegheny subway station.

At over 11K sqft, the new medical office will have plenty of room to see up to 15 patients per hour. The plans from Spiezle show about 20 patient rooms, as well as a waiting room and back office facilities for employees. At least 14 of the parking spots in front of the former pharmacy will be dedicated to patient parking, with employees parking off-site. Fortunately, the hospital has plenty of parking in the area, and a parking garage sits right across the street.

This plan is a no-brainer, given its location so close to the hospital, but it comes with a challenge, as the property is zoned for apartments. Before Temple could move forward with this project, they first needed sign-off from the ZBA. With the support of the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team and non-opposition from Councilmember Cindy Bass, the board was willing to quickly give their assent. Curiously, the RCO requested that the hours for the office be restricted to weekdays between 8am and 5 pm, and that’s been included as a proviso to the zoning variance. This feels heavy handed on North Broad Street and will eventually result in an odd situation where a doctor’s office must close at 5pm, while the nearby liquor store can remain open til late.

While we are pleased that the former Rite Aid won’t sit empty for too long, we feel compelled to mention that this building isn’t exactly the highest or best use for this property. Covering about an acre, it was historically used for homes and small apartment buildings, but those were demoed over the years as the neighborhood suffered from considerable disinvestment. In recent years we’ve seen some projects pop up around here, and a mixed-use building with ground-floor retail would definitely make more sense than it did when this one-story building was constructed about 20 years ago. But the fact that this building is already here probably forecloses on any chance of redevelopment in our lifetimes, short of Temple Hospital buying the property in service of expansion. Who knows, it’s possible that the new medical office is the first step toward that very outcome.