A new thrift store and health-care center are coming to 8th and Market

Center City will soon be getting a new health center and thrift store — in the same building.

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has purchased the site of a former two-story Burger King on Eighth Street, just south of East Market Street, for almost $2.9 million.

AHF is a long-established health-care provider that operates in 17 states and 45 countries and claims to be the largest provider of HIV medical care worldwide. AHF has been operating in Philadelphia for five years and currently has a much smaller health center and pharmacy at 1211 Chestnut St.

“In looking at the data, when I saw that about 50% of people living with HIV in the Philadelphia area are not in care, that was very concerning to us,” said Marlene LaLota, senior regional director for AHF.

“Philly is a great city … with a large dynamic population, lots of young people,” LaLota said. “But, unfortunately, like most big cities, there’s a lot of HIV and STIs [sexually transmitted infections]. We figured there’s enough to go around, even with all the organizations there doing a great job.”

At the former Burger King location, AHF plans a full-service pharmacy, health-care center, and testing laboratory on the second floor. On the first floor will be a thrift store called “Out of The Closet,” which will be part of a successful model AHF has used in 23 other locations to help fund health-care services for those who can’t afford them.

AHF is in the process of designing the new location and has not applied for permits for the plans. It does not have an estimate of renovation costs but expect them to be substantial. LaLota says AHF hopes to be open by this time next year.

“The Burger King, obviously, had a kitchen area, and that’s going to have to be gutted,” LaLota said. “The second floor is really nice, because there’s windows all around, but it will still have to be majorly renovated.”

The thrift shop plans to sell clothing, housewares, records, books, and other odds and ends. They will accept donations at the store.

It’s too early to say what the location’s hours will be, but LaLota notes that AHF’s Brooklyn location is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week (with slightly abridged hours on Sunday), and the expanded Philadelphia operation will probably have the same hours.

Free HIV testing will be available every day, with screening for other STIs offered on select days.

This stretch of East Market is one of the quietest parts of Center City, despite its proximity to thriving neighborhoods like Chinatown and Old City. Many storefronts are vacant and the dearth of office workers can be felt in a way that is less true of downtown’s more residential sections.

Larry Steinberg of Colliers, who represented the sellers in the real estate transaction, said AHF’s purchase wasn’t contingent upon securing zoning changes or other kinds of regulatory permissions. AHF was the highest bidder and owns the building free and clear.

“It sounds like a reasonable idea, a pharmacy and the thrift store,” said Steinberg, when he learned of the organization’s plans for the space. “Secondhand and thrift stores are a very good activity in today’s market. They seem to all thrive.”