Rite Aid Pharmacies has announced plans to demolish the former Safeway grocery at Rhode Island Avenue and Third Street NE and build in its place an 11,000-square-foot store that will include a convenience food mart, a drive-up pharmacy, a business services center and one-hour photo processing.

The store, expected to open in May 2001, is part of a major expansion in the D.C. area by the Pennsylvania-based national drug store chain that currently operates nine stores in the city.

Rite Aid recently began building another 11,000-square-foot store on 14th Street NW, near the new Columbia Heights Metro station, which the company expects to open in April 2000. That store will have features similar to the Rhode Island Avenue store, except it will lack a drive-up pharmacy window.

A company spokeswoman said a schedule for demolition and construction at the former Safeway site currently is unavailable, although Rite Aid erected a chain-link fence around the property in recent weeks.

A Safeway spokesman said the grocery chain will retain ownership of the property, which Rite Aid has acquired under a long-term lease.

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