The long-vacant Rite Aid at Forbes and Murray avenues in Squirrel Hill has a new tenant lined up, and it’s a full-service grocery store built around kosher offerings. Murray’s Market has leased the space inside The Brandywine, the 52,000-square-foot building at 1700 Murray Avenue, filling what its developer calls one of the property’s largest remaining vacancies.
The announcement comes from Brandywine Communities, a Pittsburgh-based real estate owner, developer, and property management company, which says the 12,000-square-foot grocery store will serve as the building’s anchor tenant. According to azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic, the store will feature fresh produce, premium meats, baked goods, prepared foods, kosher grocery offerings, and household essentials. Owner Yitzchok Glassner described it as both a kosher market and a community grocery store open to everyone.
The Rite Aid that previously occupied the space shut its doors on June 25, 2025, one of hundreds of Pennsylvania closures tied to the pharmacy chain’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidation, as Patch reported at the time. The building itself, now branded The Brandywine, was originally redeveloped out of a former gas station by ex-Rite Aid real estate executive Craig Cozza, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. That outlet also reports the new grocery store is expected to employ roughly 10 full-time and part-time workers once it opens, helping replace some of the retail jobs lost when Rite Aid pulled out.
Zoning Board Sets the Rules for the New Store
Pittsburgh’s Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a special exception on July 20, 2026, allowing the space to operate as a grocery store, according to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. The six-page decision sets operating hours between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., caps customer seating at 10, requires 23 on-site parking spaces, and lays out specific waste and ventilation standards. Those conditions cleared a key municipal hurdle standing between the property and its commercial conversion…