NORMAL - A CVS Pharmacy will be the anchor retailer for a planned $31 million, five-story, mixed-use building at the site of the former University Christian Church in uptown Normal.

It will be among three new CVS Pharmacy stores planned for the Twin Cities. Bloomington has approved plans for the drugstore at Veterans Parkway and Mercer Avenue and Normal recently received plans for a CVS at the former site of Damon's, 1701 Fort Jesse Road.

"It will be a tremendous addition to uptown, bringing much needed goods and services while complimenting existing businesses," said Jill Guth, development director for JSM, the Champaign company building the uptown mixed-use building.

Guth said CVS with occupy just over 13,000 square feet of the southwest corner of the building and wants to be open by August 2010.

That's when JSM also plans to have the 137 apartments on the top three floors available for occupancy, Guth said. There will be 63 one-bedroom, 51 two-bedroom and 23 one-bedroom "luxury" rental units. Monthly rent is expected to be between $500 and $700 per bedroom.

The second floor of the building will be office and retail space. Guth said JSM is looking for other retailers, such as casual restaurants, to fill the rest of the first-floor retail space.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos said the JSM project brings a few firsts to the uptown project.

"The JSM project found us," said Koos. "We knew this would happen once we started building out (the uptown redevelopment plan)."

JSM also will bring CVS, a retailer that will offer basic services and help "drive the residential market," he said.

The Normal City Council will consider a redevelopment agreement with JSM at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.

Guth said 10 people already have put their names in for the apartments and the company hasn't even started really marketing it yet.

"We're not worried about renting the apartments," she said. "We've done our research."

JSM has 1,000 apartments in Champaign-Urbana. Some of the retailers in those buildings include Urban Outfitters, Rosati's Pizza and Cold Stone Creamery.

"I think this is going to be great," said Mary Strack, owner of nearby Jimmy John's. "It will attract a lot of faculty and staff. There's plenty of room for all of us."

Uptown Normal Business Association President Brian Simpson said it will add to the mix of existing businesses.

One business that won't continue to be in that mix is The Movie Fan. Besides purchasing the University Christian Church, JSM also bought 202 and 204 W. North St., and 107 Broadway. All buildings will be razed.

David McBride, owner of The Movie Fan, said his store will be open at 202 North St. for only 17 more days, then he is moving to 503 S. Main St. He hopes to open at that location by April 3. The new space is 25 percent bigger and will allow him to have a snack-bar area, he said.