The former Rite Aid in Jeannette is up for auction later this month with a starting price of $100,000.

City manager Ethan Keedy said he hopes that any bidder does their homework beforehand to know what kind of business the building could support and the condition it is in. He also hopes that the winner doesn’t leave the Clay Avenue building empty.

“The city understands that anybody from any part of the country could bid on it and win it,” he said.

Vacant buildings and out-of-state owners who cannot be reached are problems on some parts of Clay Avenue. During a Trib survey at the time of Rite Aid’s closure in January, there were more than 20 buildings on Clay Avenue that were vacant in some form, ranging from awaiting demolition to various stages of being remodeled.

The Jeannette Rite Aid location’s closure added to others in Westmoreland County and the region under the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Online bidding starts Sept. 23 at noon. The online listing states that the structure was built in 1994 and is 8,052 square feet.

There are plenty of thriving businesses and eateries between the 200 and 600 blocks of the town’s business district, too, interspersed among abandoned or vacant buildings. City officials have said they have great difficulty in tracking down out-of-state limited liability corporations that own a handful of buildings on Clay Avenue.

Keedy hopes the old Rite Aid building doesn’t end up in the hands of winning bidder who won’t redevelop it.

“That is the last thing we want on Clay Avenue,” he said.

Keedy would like to see the winning bidder seek community input on what residents might want in the downtown business district before moving forward with any plans.

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