DRYDEN, N.Y. — Attention shoppers: the village of Dryden has given the green light for a plan for a new and improved Rite Aid pharmacy.
The new store will be built at 79 North Street (NYS Route 13), a vacant lot once occupied by the Stafford Chevrolet car dealership. Through a LLC, Buffalo-based Ellicott Development picked up the property in December 2012 for $525,000. A new Rite Aid had been rumored to be in Ellicott’s plans long before a formal proposal was introduced to the village earlier this year.
The 11,180 SF (square-foot), one-story pharmacy and store would come with 56 parking spaces and a drive-thru pharmacy. A site plan of the new store shows two entrances, one from North Street/NYS Route 13 and a second from Freeville Road/NYS Route 38. The Freeville Road entrance will utilize a rear driveway created through a property easement with the auto body shop next door, whose property Ellicott also owns. The repair shop will be unaffected, although some of the paved space will be torn out and seeded with grass.
A second phase of development calls for an additional building with a 3,800 SF restaurant with a drive-thru, 1,900 SF of unspecified retail space, and 33 parking spaces. These plans have no confirmed tenants and have not been approved, according to Dryden village staff. However, it’s worth noting that when a concept plan is this detailed, they likely have a specific tenant in mind, likely a coffee shop or fast-food chain given the size and drive-thru. Bohler Engineering, a major engineering consulting firm with offices in several states led the review process on behalf of Ellicott.
While one vacant lot finds a new use, the drawback is that the current 7,800 SF Dryden Rite Aid at 11 East Main Street will be closing once the new building is ready several months from now. The owner of the Main Street building is a real estate company based out of New York City; a request for comment was not returned. Requests for comment from Ellicott Development and Rite Aid corporate were also not returned.