Local

CVS to replace Buskey's Motel in Allison Park

ALLISON PARK, Pa. — A Route 8 motel with a storied past soon will be demolished to make way for a CVS pharmacy, and about a dozen residents are seeking a new home.

Manager Christine Perkins on Thursday distributed a written notice from the owner to residents that Buskey's Motel will close on or around Feb. 10.

This article was written by Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE

“Some people have been there for years,” said Sam Dougherty, 67, a motel guest for six months.

The 22-room motel was built about 60 years ago to serve motorists using the nearby Pennsylvania Turnpike, but in recent years has offered shelter with weekly and daily rates. Today, about 15 people live in the motel, Perkins said.

Hampton Council on Jan. 22 approved site plans for a CVS on the property. Sale of the 2-acre site hinged on that vote, said Don Hultberg of the EADS Group, site consultants and project manager for BT Management of Altoona.

BT Management plans to lease a 13,225-square-foot structure as a CVS store with a drive-through pharmacy on the property. The motel is expected to be demolished shortly after it is sold.

Motel residents include an unemployed couple with a toddler.

“They can look for other accommodations,” said Narsimha Reddy of Aspinwall, general partner in NR Associates, current owner of Buskey's.

The motel was the site of a murder more than four decades ago.

James Akers, 33, was shot in the head as he lay in bed on June 29, 1972. About 14 years later, an Allegheny County jury convicted his wife, Anna Akers Wolfe, of killing him.