SAN JOSE — A big former hardware store site in San Jose could get a new mission as the location of a preschool and fitness center, according to documents on file with city planners.
The proposed businesses would fill a long-shuttered Orchard Supply Hardware store site at 5651 Cottle Road in south San Jose, city planning records show.
The empty former store building totals 45,800 square feet and is in an area dotted with single-family homes, apartment complexes and multiple shopping hubs, including retail sites anchored by Safeway and Target.
In 2018, Orchard Supply Hardware ceased operations after OSH’s owner, Lowe’s Home Improvement, decided to shut all of the Orchard Supply stores.
Central Network Retail Group bought leases for seven Bay Area OSH former sites in 2019 and reopened those locations as Outdoor Supply Hardware.
Many former Orchard Supply Hardware sites, however, such as the one on Cottle Road in San Jose, remained closed for years after the prior shutdowns.
The Goddard Preschool would occupy a big chunk of the building, approximately 21,000 square feet, the city planning files show.
“A tenant remodel of approximately 10,000 square feet of an existing building that was previously Orchard Supply for conversion to a Goddard preschool” would be part of the scope of the project, the city documents show.
The proposal also envisions that playgrounds with artificial turf and play structures would be developed on the old store’s former garden center, an area that totals 11,000 square feet.
The playground would be next to the future preschool, according to a planning application that New Jersey-based A Hinman Construction and Consulting submitted to the Planning Department.
“It’s expected that the rest of the building would be a Planet Fitness gym,” Andrew Hinman, a principal executive with the Hinman consultancy, wrote in a letter to city planners.
The fitness center would occupy about 24,800 square feet, based on the Hinman calculations and the planning documents.
“The preschool is for children six weeks to six years,” the planning files state. “It will be open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and occasionally nights and weekends for events.”
The Goodard Preschool at this site is slated to accommodate 144 children with a staff of 21, according to the planning documents.
The school operates in 37 states and has 13 locations in California, the Goddard Preschool website states. The school’s Bay Area locations are listed as San Ramon and Brentwood.
“We embrace the magic of childhood to help inspire a love of learning from a young age,” Goodard Preschool states on its online site. “We nurture the whole child, which goes beyond meeting milestones.”