Last week the Town Council approved a new Walgreens at the corner of East Franklin Street and South Estes Drive. It will displace Walker's BP service station, which has built a loyal following since the 1960s. The operators do not own the land and could not stop the sale.

University Mall has been without a full-service pharmacy since Kerr Drug left last year to reopen in East 54 on Raleigh Road. Rite Aid at Eastgate Shopping Center, a half mile away, is currently the nearest full-service pharmacy.

Walgreens plans to build a 13,284 square-foot pharmacy with a partial second story to allow for high windows lighting the retail floor. This daylighting and other features will help the store achieve U.S. Green Building Council standards, even though the developer doesn't plan to go through the certification process, according to Rob Wilson, senior project manager with Walgreens' architectural contractor, The Design Response.

"We're the first corner drugstore in town, and the most energy efficient, too," Wilson said after the council's approval Monday night.

The council labored to craft a plan for dealing with new traffic associated with the pharmacy.

"It's an intersection that feels unsafe under the current conditions," said council member Ed Harrison.

The council opted for a new concrete island preventing lefthand turns into and out of the Walgreens and the Kangaroo Express gas station across East Franklin Street.

Caribou Coffee resisted a similar median on South Estes Drive, and the town instead chose to require a "pork-chop" island in the driveway of Walgreens, making lefthand turns extremely difficult. A sign will tell drivers that access to Walgreens is right-in/right-out only.

Walgreens will also pay $21,000 for additional transportation improvements in that area.

Town staff still need to review and approve Walgreens' zoning compliance permit to begin demolition. Wilson said Walker's should close by this fall and Walgreens should open by the fall of 2011.