The developer of the Rite Aid to be built on Main Street defended the design of the pharmacy.

“It’s not a bad looking building,” said Paul Dunn, the project manager for J.S. Capitol Construction. “Rite Aid doesn’t want to build ugly buildings.”

The appearance of the building was criticized Tuesday night by Butler Councilman Bill May at the council’s meeting.

May said the building did not fit in with the historic downtown appearance, instead saying it belonged in a strip mall. He was particularly unhappy with part of the wall of the building facing Main Street because it does not include a display window.

Dunn said that wall includes three colors of various sized bricks, columns every 20 feet and about 20 feet of windows near the entrance, which is at the corner of Main and Cunningham streets.

“We broke up the wall a lot,” Dunn said. “There’s not one straight wall.”

The building was designed by Rite Aid, which has specific designs of its buildings. Even so, Dunn said the design of Butler’s Rite Aid was adjusted to fit an urban setting.

May saw renderings of the building for the first time Thursday. He stood by his original stance of the building.

“They have no understanding of what belongs on a Main Street,” May said. “It’s just not pedestrian friendly.”

May said the store is too focused on the drive through and not enough on attracting downtown shoppers.

“I found Rite Aid stores online that were much more sensitive in design,” he said.

Dunn said the layout of the building was presented last year to both the city planning commission and city council.

“They asked us about the number of employees, where the parking would be, everything,” he said. “They liked it.”

He added, “The design of the building met all zoning ordinances, so we didn’t have to present it at all. But we did because we’re very involved with the city.”

The building is part of a new “protypical” Rite Aid design that features lower shelves in the store for more accessibility. Its pharmacy will have a drive through connecting to Cedar Street, which will be widened to two lanes.

Dunn said the building could not be altered now because J.S. Capitol is set to break ground next month.

“Everything’s finalized already,” he said.

The Rite Aid will join a Marriott Springhill Suites hotel and a 225-lot parking garage as part of the Centre City project.

J.S. Capitol is also the developer of the 80-room hotel and likely will build the parking garage for the city.

The company also built the Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites in Slippery Rock, which has been open since October 2011.

Construction on Butler’s hotel is expected to begin this summer with the garage to follow. Each should be open in 2015.

The Rite Aid is expected to be open later this year.

As for the appearance of the pharmacy, Dunn said the criticism is part of the job.

“You can’t please everybody,” he said.