Hillsboro: City Planners Approve TJ Maxx Remodel of Rite Aid Space at Sunset Esplanade
- Hillsboro city planners have approved interior and storefront work to turn the Rite Aid space at Sunset Esplanade, 2425 SE Tualatin Valley Highway, into a TJ Maxx.
- The decision is listed in a Sept.
- The report is titled "Report of Administrative Review Land Use Applications." It says it covers applications "processed by the Planning Department staff" since the last report on Aug.
Hillsboro city planners have approved interior and storefront work to turn the Rite Aid space at Sunset Esplanade, 2425 SE Tualatin Valley Highway, into a TJ Maxx. The approval, file DR26-0033, is dated Sept. 28, and the floor plan filed with it labels the space “Proposed TJ Maxx” at 23,734 square feet.
The decision is listed in a Sept. 30 report from the Planning Division to the Planning Commission, printed on page 545 of the commission’s Oct. 14 agenda packet. It describes the job as tenant improvements with some facade work for the “existing Rite Aid at Sunset Esplanade,” to make room for TJ Maxx as a future tenant.
A staff decision, reported after the fact
The report is titled “Report of Administrative Review Land Use Applications.” It says it covers applications “processed by the Planning Department staff” since the last report on Aug. 17, and it lists the TJ Maxx file under “Applications Approved by the Planning Division.” The report’s key says DR stands for Development Review.
On the Oct. 14 agenda, the report sat under staff reports and information, while the only public hearing that night was on a separate downtown plan. The city’s table of land use procedures, reprinted in the Oct. 20 City Council packet (pages 138 to 141), labels Type II reviews “Administrative” and gives the decision to the community development director. The Sept. 30 report does not say which review type the TJ Maxx file used.
What the plans show
The drawings attached to the report add detail the one-line summary leaves out. They were prepared by Christopher F. Mierke, Architect, of Cleveland, Ohio, and the title block is dated Aug. 20 and marked “For Permit.” The floor plan shows other tenants on both sides of the store.
On the front, the plans call for a new aluminum storefront system and a new entry vestibule under a TJ Maxx sign. The sign wall is drawn at about 55 feet, 8 inches wide, with a note that it is to be as wide as or wider than any other retailer’s in the center. Sign size is left “per local AHJ,” the building plans’ shorthand for the local permitting authority.
Parts of the existing stucco, metal and masonry are to be painted Benjamin Moore “Neon Red,” while some surfaces get a “China White” stucco finish and others keep their current colors. Behind the store, the plans add a trash compactor on a 10-by-40-foot concrete pad, new dock seals and bumpers, and a refurbished dock leveler. Out front, a new concrete sidewalk is planned, and one existing exit door is to be welded shut.
None of these city documents gives an opening date or a construction schedule. They also do not say when Rite Aid stopped operating there.
Downtown’s new storefronts
While the TJ Maxx plans moved through staff review, smaller shops were opening downtown. On Oct. 14, the same day the Planning Commission met, the city posted a news release naming four new downtown businesses and one expansion.
| Business | Address | What the city release says |
|---|---|---|
| Cookie MonsterZ | 415 E Main St. | Scratch-made cookies, including vegan and gluten-free choices |
| Society Pie | 142 SE 2nd Ave. | Family-owned New York-style pizza; five years in business, three locations |
| The Tiny Trove | 136 SE 3rd Ave. | Secondhand children’s clothing, upstairs from FLIP Children’s Museum |
| Rock It Resell | 125 SE 3rd Ave. | Consignment fashion; also has a Cedar Mill location |
| Lucia Isabel Collection | 207 E Main St. | Family-owned dress shop “opening its third storefront soon” |
The release adds a few details about where these shops came from. Cookie MonsterZ began at outdoor markets and sold through stores such as New Seasons before coming downtown. The Tiny Trove says consignment is “coming soon,” and Rock It Resell “recently opened” its Hillsboro shop.
The release does not list store hours or opening dates. For Lucia Isabel Collection, it gives 207 E Main St. as the shop’s address but does not say where the third storefront will be.
Where to look next
Downtown planning was also on the Oct. 14 commission agenda, which held a hearing on the Avenida Diez/10th Avenue strategy. Residents with questions about the TJ Maxx file can call the Planning Division at 503-681-6153, the number printed on the Sept. 30 report.
Top image: Illustrative image, 2024: an empty storefront at a shopping center in Rockville, Maryland (not Sunset Esplanade). Photo: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
