CVS Eliminating Six Eckerd Stores in Phoenix

For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.

PHOENIX-In the wake of CVS Corp.’s acquisition of Clearwater, FL-based Eckerd Corp., the Woonsocket, RI-based retailer has hired Larry Ortega, senior vice president with Colliers International, to dispose of six Eckerd stores in the Phoenix metro.

“CVS wants to sell or lease the Eckerd stores that are too close to CVS stores,” Ortega says. “These are the excess properties.” Four properties are available for lease for 20 years and two locations are on the sales block for all-cash purchases.

Ortega tells GlobeSt.com that each Eckerd location is worth about $3 million. “These Eckerd drug stores were just completed within the last year or so,” he says. The stores, totaling about 14,000 sf, are situated on 1.9 acres at hard corners throughout the Valley.

Ortega had represented Eckerd in its expansion efforts in the Valley. The retailer had about 30 stores in its expansion program when CVS acquired it. The build-to-suit locations were developed by Orix/Alliant, Hunt Douglas Unicorp, a Tampa, FL-based trio. Ortega says he expects the stores will attract both end-users and speculative developers who will split the buildings.