Dive Brief:
- A&G Real Estate Partners, the real estate adviser for Rite Aid, on Monday announced plans to sell off 79 store leases pending court approval, according to a press release shared with Retail Dive.
- The leases are available in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
- The move follows the previous offering of 92 store leases on Nov. 15. To date, the company has put up 180 Rite Aid and Bartell Drug leases for sale, and 73 of those listings have either been sold or removed due to rejection of the lease, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Rite Aid’s lease sales are part of the company’s efforts to shrink and restructure its business following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing this past fall.
The current leases up for sale include 53 freestanding locations, 41 of which have attached drive-through lanes. Nineteen locations stand on strip or power centers, and seven are in central business districts, according to the press release. The stores range between roughly 5,500 to 31,400 square feet.
A&G may put additional leases on the market as Rite Aid’s restructuring process continues, but the final number depends on the outcome of negotiations between the company and Rite Aid’s landlords.
“In consultation with A&G, Rite Aid is working to strengthen its overall financial position by reducing its rent expenses and optimizing its portfolio,” Andy Graiser, co-president of A&G, said in a statement.
In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rite Aid planned to liquidate up to 500 stores of its roughly 2,200 locations as part of a possible bankruptcy. The following month, the company officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey and appointed Jeffrey Stein as CEO and chief restructuring officer. In October, A&G announced plans to sell 78 leases as well as 21 stores and land lots, pushing the total to 191 locations and parcels.