Longtime Tacoma pharmacy closes because of bus rapid-transit project. But did it have to?
Evolving plans for Pierce Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit system in Tacoma along Pacific Avenue have led to the departure of a legacy drugstore.
Cost Less Prescriptions, 5431 Pacific Ave., closed earlier this month, transferring current prescriptions to Rite Aid a few blocks south at 7041 Pacific Ave.
Terri Hickey, media representative for Rite Aid, told The News Tribune via email, “Rite Aid took over prescriptions on May 4. We have been reaching out to these new customers to welcome them to Rite Aid and provide information on how we can best serve their whole health needs.”
Gary Bisceglia, owner of the former Tacoma Cost Less building site, recently spoke to The News Tribune about the closure. Bisceglia said concerns over losing parking spaces in front of the pharmacy made the closure inevitable.
Bisceglia operated the site starting in the early 1980s but sold the store to new ownership around eight years ago. He retained ownership of the building, with Cost Less continuing as a tenant on the property.
“The guy that owned the drugstore at this time decided that it was too risky,” he said. “We only have 10 or 11 parking spots. And if they took half of them ... it wouldn’t work.
“I own the dirt. So I’m kind of waiting on Pierce County and what they’re going to do.”
Details from Pierce Transit shared with The News Tribune this week indicate the decision for closure was based on information from last year and that those spaces might not be impacted after all.
Plans for the $170 million Pacific Avenue/State Route 7 Bus Rapid Transit call for a rapid transit bus line to run from downtown Tacoma to Spanaway, with service operating every 10 minutes during weekday peak periods, every 15 minutes in non-peak weekday hours, every 30 minutes on weekday evenings, and every 20 minutes on weekends.
Plans have changed through the years, and Pierce Transit maintains a website offering details about the project, in the works since 2017, at piercetransit.org/brt/.
Rebecca Japhet, media representative for Pierce Transit, told The News Tribune via email Thursday that it reached out to property owners along the corridor in mid-2021, “based on project design at the time, inviting them to meet with our team to review and discuss the details. While project design was less than 30 percent, the agency felt it was important to be proactive and engage people early.”
Japhet said a meeting focused on the pharmacy site took place Oct. 22.
“Our team shared with them the design at the time, and emphasized that it was very preliminary – less than 30 percent (designed) – and subject to change. The business representative indicated they were considering moving their business, and wanted to know if the design was final as shown,” she said. “Our team was very clear it was not final, and recommended they not make business decisions based on this early design.”
She noted, “With this particular property, some of the parking is located in the right-of-way, so any project in the area could potentially impact those parking spots.
“Our team indicated that if parking impacts did occur, they would work with the business on mitigation measures to lessen the impacts as much as possible through things such as a parking redesign.”
Japhet said that in February “plans for a roundabout and road widening were removed from the preliminary design.” Those plans would have involved 56th Street and Pacific Avenue, the intersection closest to the pharmacy.
Japhet noted, “Pierce Transit as an agency made the decision that these intersection changes — roundabout, widening — would not take place, due to the potential impacts on nearby properties. However, that change is not final just yet.”
Complicating matters is that the intersection of 56th Street and Pacific Avenue is within the city limits, and Pacific also serves as state Route 7. This means both the city and Washington State Department of Transportation still need to vet and agree to the updated design, according to Japhet.
“Over the past couple months, the three agencies have been sharing design details, with the goal of having an agreed-upon design this summer,” she wrote.
“Once there is an agreed-upon design, Pierce Transit plans to reach back out to businesses in this intersection area to update them and talk through next steps.”
The entire project is still under review, “and there are other elements throughout the corridor that could impact it,” she added.
Those updates apparently didn’t come in time for Cost Less. News of the change in plans came as a surprise to Bisceglia earlier this week when he was informed by The News Tribune.
“Well, thanks for that news, I guess,” he said. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Bisceglia’s daughter, Jamie, was more blunt.
“How do you go from telling somebody they’re going to lose everything, and now they’re not going to do anything?” she asked. “We lost our biggest tenant that we could ever have.”
Japhet says Pierce Transit is working to make sure businesses stay informed of changes.
“We have a formal outreach team at the agency, which has divided the BRT corridor into segments and are walking the corridor, reaching out to businesses and property owners to let them know about the project,” she wrote.
The Tacoma closure does not affect other Cost Less pharmacy locations in the area, including in Fircrest and Key Peninsula, which remain open.
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
