If you need something from CVS, 39th Street will still be your best bet -- at least for the next couple of months.
That location is scheduled to close after CVS opens a location in the Food Court at 34th and Walnut streets.
Demolition work has been completed at the Food Court. An extension of the building's exterior must be finished before any further work can be done on the interior.
According to Real Estate Operations Director Ed Datz, the CVS on 34th Street should open in April.
The 39th and Walnut CVS -- which is about 20 years old -- will close about two months after the new one opens.
The CVS swap is part of a massive Penn renovation process whose goal is to establish student apartments on the 3900 block of Walnut Street.
CVS was told by Penn administrators that the store wouldn't be allowed to extend its lease at its current location, assistant manager Rosie Adkinson said.
Although it is moving, the CVS will still retain all of its employees from the 39th Street location, Adkinson added.
He said that University real estate officials told him that the CVS would be moving, but he was not told why.
He was not unhappy about the relocation, however.
"It doesn't make any difference to me," Adkinson said.
The move allows CVS to expand its presence on campus, since it has a location at 43rd and Locust streets, which has been open for about seven years.
CVS management ultimately made the decision to open the 34th Street location.
While the target date for the pharmacy's opening is in April, the site's construction manager said that it could take until June.
"When you're in construction, it's very sensitive to a lot of different conditions," said Datz. "But until you're literally 60 to 70 percent of the way there it's very difficult to say that you're comfortable with it."
Facilities and Real Estate officials announced over a year ago that the CVS pharmacy located at 39th and Walnut streets will relocate to the Food Court location. They originally set the completion date for last September.
"The weather has not been very cooperative, with the rain, on the exterior work which is driving when the interior will be complete," Datz added.
Both CVS and Penn officials think the move is a good one. "By having a CVS [at the Food Court], it caters not only to the student population, but also caters to the employment base of the University," Datz said. "It's more convenient to some of the administrative faculty and staff that are located there."
