The long-vacant Rite Aid in the heart of Hillcrest is officially back on the market, and with it comes a renewed neighborhood fight over what, and who, the prominent storefront and adjoining lot should serve. The Robinson Avenue parcel between Fifth and Sixth avenues includes the shuttered drugstore and an LAZ parking lot that residents say has been sitting idle for far too long. What might look like a straightforward real estate listing has quickly turned into a flashpoint for planners and neighbors wary of tall new projects that chip away at Hillcrest’s walkable, human-scale feel.
What’s for sale
Commercial brokerage CBRE is marketing the property as a redevelopment play, packaging the site as a high-density opportunity at 535 Robinson Ave. The marketing brochure on Crexi describes zoning of CC-3-10 in the city's Complete Communities Tier 2, highlights an 8.0 floor-area ratio, and notes an existing surface lot with roughly 80 parking spaces. The pitch frames the parcel as well-positioned for residential or mixed-use construction close to transit and major employers.
Neighbors worry about scale, character
At a July 8 meeting of the Uptown Community Planning Group, board members and neighbors made it clear they want any new project to provide public amenities and to avoid another looming block of units. "We can't have another Rowyn," board member Michael Neville told the group, while fellow member Michael Singleton warned that the current business interface on Sixth already "feels like a wall." Several speakers pointed out that the parcel, the empty building plus the LAZ lot, totals more than 55,000 square feet and that the pharmacy sign has already come down, a very public hint that change is on the way, according to the Times of San Diego.
Why it matters
The listing arrives after a turbulent stretch for Rite Aid itself. The chain filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2023 under the weight of significant debt and litigation, a process that triggered store closures and pushed many leased and owned retail sites into play. National coverage of the restructuring explains why former Rite Aid locations have suddenly become hot development targets in cities across the country, Hillcrest included, as detailed in The Washington Post.
Zoning and what’s possible
The marketing materials lean heavily on the site’s by-right development potential in a transit-priority area, highlighting nearby amenities that investors love, from Whole Foods to UC San Diego Health's Hillcrest campus. The brochure on Crexi reiterates the 8.0 FAR and Complete Communities Tier 2 status, technical details that translate into the ability to build significantly more without wading through a lengthy rezoning battle. That reality raises the stakes for neighbors who say they would rather see new parklike gathering spaces than yet another chunky building lining the street.
What comes next
So far, no redevelopment proposal has been filed with the city, and CBRE has not put a public timeline on the listing, according to discussion at the planning group meeting. Former council member Bill Keller urged the board to push the city to secure good density, not crap and to insist on meaningful public open space if and when a deal advances, Times of San Diego reported. With the parcel now under active review, neighbors and local leaders say they plan to press for a project that adds amenities alongside any new housing units.
For now, the block remains a conspicuous gap in Hillcrest's busy retail spine, a blank space where the neighborhood’s future is very much up for grabs. Whoever buys the former Rite Aid site will help decide not just what gets built on that corner, but how Hillcrest feels to walk through for years to come. Developers will be watching the numbers, and the Uptown Community Planning Group will likely serve as the early gauge of whether the area gets fresh public spaces or one more boxy tower.
