Walgreens pharmacy setting up shop on Mass Ave

Walgreen Co. is opening a pharmacy on Massachusetts Avenue, in retail space on the ground level of the 3 Mass condominium building.

The suburban Chicago-based drug store chain has signed a lease to occupy 2,500-square-feet and should move in within the next few months, said Todd Maurer, whose Halakar Properties owns the building in partnership with Keystone Group.

“I can’t be any happier to have Walgreens as a tenant,” Maurer said. “They run a good operation, and they’ll have their own separate entrance.”

3 Mass, at the head of the bustling avenue at its intersection with Delaware Street, opened in 2009 and has four retail slots, two of which are occupied by the Ball & Biscuit bar and Bazbeaux Pizza. A contract could be signed soon on the remaining space, once pegged for an Orange Leaf franchise, Maurer said.

It’s unclear whether the Walgreens walk-in clinic at 342 Massachusetts Ave. will remain open. A representative of the company couldn’t be reached for comment.  

The Walgreens pharmacy at 3 Mass would be its first downtown drug store. CVS operates two, at 105 E. Ohio St. and 175 W. Illinois St.

CVS had planned to open a store in the new Pulliam Square development, in space at the northwest corner of New York and Delaware streets, but scrapped the plans. In October 2013, a city zoning board approved developer TWG Development LLC’s request for a drug store drive-thru, presumably for a CVS based on the look of an architect’s rendering.