A proposal for a new apartment building in downtown Rochester includes the promise of a pharmacy.
But it’s not clear whether the pharmacy envisioned here would be a walk-in, brick-and-mortar store like we’re all used to.
The Genesee, as it is being called, would rise on a former parking lot and is a second phase of Center City Courtyard, a recently completed affordable housing building on the other side of South Plymouth.
“There's been a lot of closure of pharmacies throughout the city, and so we're excited that we're going to be able to bring these health services for this project,” said Whitney McClary, development director with CSD Housing, which is working with New York City-based HELP Dev Co. on both developments.
Center City Courtyard has 164 affordable apartments, many of which have supportive services attached. The Genesee would add 120 units, also affordable but likely at a somewhat higher price point. Some of those would have supportive services from Trillium Health, which also would have space for a family health clinic and pharmacy, McClary said.
There is work yet to be done solidifying funding. And Trillium also is non-committal on specifics of the pharmacy component.
“We have kind of a conundrum here, right?” said Chris Wooding, chief pharmacy officer for Trillium, not speaking to The Genesee specifically but generally about the current market. “They are moving out for a reason. Just like any health care service, we are seeing lower reimbursement, and the ability to fund and run these places has become more difficult.”
Trillium has been working with Anthony Jordan Health Center, Rochester Regional Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center on ways to backfill the pharmacy deserts left behind by the exodus of Walgreens and others.
“I’m not sure we have found the perfect model in any single location,” Wooding said. “It is going to take different solutions in the same geographical area.”
Recent years have seen an explosion in pharmacy deliveries. A nationwide study by JD Power found growing satisfaction with mail-order or delivery prescription options. Experts say Amazon’s entry into the pharmacy space accelerated the trend.
Locally, officials say it was the COVID-19 pandemic that pushed customers and their own focus toward that option. Trillium’s deliveries have doubled pre- to post-COVID. URMC, meanwhile, saw deliveries explode from 20,000 to well over 300,000 between the 2020 and recently completed 2025 budget years.
There still is a place for walk-in pharmacies.
URMC operates 14 locations in its network — including one at Brooks Landing in the city’s 19th Ward, which will mark its one-year anniversary this week and is doing well, officials said, averaging more than 300 prescriptions filled daily.
But the local health providers also are considering options like a mobile pharmacy or off-site lockers, akin to what Amazon is doing, where people can pick up their medications.
Problem is, New York state regulations don’t envision either option. And state regulators have advised that those lockers might violate state law, and that any pharmacy caught operating them could face disciplinary action.
“Something is going to have to change,” said Jason Smith, chief pharmacy officer with URMC, which has explored a mobile pharmacy. “If the pharmacies are not there — brick-and-mortar pharmacies — and we have so many closings, what's going to fill that gap? And we need to have a solution for that.”
The debate here centers around patient safety. But Smith said the profession is evolving to maintain the in-person level of service online and by telephone.
All this needs to be hashed out at the state level. In the meantime, McClary is working to shore up financing and said, if all goes well, the goal is to break ground on The Genesee this time next year.
“We always envisioned doing a phase-two project,” he said, while noting that the vision took some time to gel. “It definitely iterated. Initially, when we did this project, we were thinking maybe we could attract some other commercial or retail use over there. So we did reach out, and we talked to some brokers and see if there was an interest of, you know, a grocery store or something like that on that site.”
He continued: “But we’re glad we found a community us that’s really going to really benefit the community around us.”
