By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune Contributor
The Florence City Council has unanimously approved the annexation of two parcels of land that will spur development of a new CVS Pharmacy at U.S. 42 and Gunpowder Road.
The new store will replace the existing CVS Pharmacy located in the strip mall on U.S. 42 at Weaver Road.
Joshua Wice, economic development director for the City of Florence, said the pharmacy fills a need in the area.
“In our retail analytics, drugstores and pharmacies are actually underrepresented in Florence,” Wice said. “It is a nice upgrade and one of the more positive aspects is that it facilitates the annexation of land, which, with the zone change, offers more opportunities for commercial development.”
The zone change, from Suburban Residential One (SR-1) to Commercial Two Planned Development (C-2 PD), and an accompanying change in the concept development plan, also allows for two commercial office buildings. The annexation, which meets the requirement of properties adjacent to the current city limits, also lets Florence keep CVS Pharmacy in the city.
The parcels, which total 5.291 acres and are now owned by Gunpowder Properties LLC and James and Sherry Morgan, are located on the northeast side of Gunpowder Road, southeast of U.S. 42.
For the directionally challenged, that is the hill side of Gunpowder Road, not the creek side.
Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS Pharmacy, said the new store is expected to be about 13,000 square-feet, significantly larger that the approximately 8,500 square feet of the existing location.
“We’re still going through our due diligence, so we don’t have a lot of details, but we hope to open late this year,” DeAngelis said. “This will be a full service CVS Pharmacy with health, beauty and personal care items and general merchandise. It’s also always our preference to have drive-thru pharmacy service.”
Florence Mayor Diane Whalen said the relocation will leave a vacancy, but based on the current business model of pharmacies, that was probably inevitable.
“We did know that the pharmacies are looking for freestanding stores as a way to continue to attract customer base,” Whalen said. “We’re glad CVS recognizes Florence is a market they want to be in and realize the value of being located in the city.”
The City of Florence maintains a list of available properties and tries to connect businesses with suitable property owners if they choose to locate in the city.
Wice said the move allows the owner of the existing property, Grammas Development, to find a more suitable long-term tenant.
“This is going to be an opportunity for that property owner to look at what they want to accomplish, backfill the CVS space, and maybe do some remodeling,” Wice said.
Grammas Development could not be reached for comment.
The property will be developed for CVS by Zaremba Group LLC of Lakewood, Ohio, and construction is expected to begin in the spring