SAN JOSE — A long shuttered Fry’s Electronics site in San Jose is poised to become a major tech hub that would create a workplace for jobs and tech manufacturing, documents on file with city planners show.
Super Micro Computer is floating a plan at San Jose City Hall to develop a brand-new building totaling 333,400 square feet that would be part of a tech hub at 550 East Brokaw Road in north San Jose.
The 19.7-acre site once accommodated a big Fry’s Electronics store and warehouse and the headquarters of the once-iconic but now-defunct consumer electronics retailer.
The well-known Mayan-themed structure that was once the Fry’s store will remain, even after the new structure is built, according to the development plans.
This is the latest in a series of efforts to find new uses for the numerous shuttered Fry’s buildings in the Bay Area.
In Fremont, city planners are reviewing a proposal to upgrade and revamp an existing Fry’s Electronics store on Osgood Road near the interchange of Interstate 680 and Auto Mall Parkway.
The project in Fremont would produce a modernized building where advanced manufacturing, tech, research, or industrial activities could occur.
These proposals raise hopes that these empty former Fry’s sites could gain new uses and help produce jobs after the consumer electronics retailer imposed in 2021 and shut all of its remaining stores.
In north San Jose, Super Micro is eyeing multiple possible activities in the building the tech company aims to build.
The tech company seeks to conduct manufacturing in the proposed three-story building, which would also accommodate a warehouse component.
In February 2024, Super Micro Computer paid $80 million for the 550 East Brokaw property through an all-cash deal, Santa Clara County real estate documents show.
Now, for the first time, the tech company’s plans for the old Fry’s site are starting to emerge. The timeline for development wasn’t immediately known.
“The scope of work includes the construction of the building core and shell as well as site improvements such as sidewalks, curbs and gutters, bicycle racks and street trees,” the Super Micro plan stated.