Fremont’s long‑vacant Fry’s Electronics site is finally getting a second act, and it will not involve bargain TVs. The Fremont City Council has unanimously signed off on a zoning change that clears the way for the 11‑acre property at 43800 Osgood Road to be remade into roughly 144,000 square feet of industrial space. Owner Sterling Organization, which bought the site in 2024, plans to renovate the big‑box shell and says construction could kick off this fall, with work wrapping up next year.
City sign‑off and environmental review
City and state environmental filings describe the project as a General Plan amendment and a rezone, detailing a package of interior and exterior upgrades to adapt the 143,815‑square‑foot building for industrial use, according to the state's CEQA portal. The work list includes a new roof, boosted electrical capacity, a roughly 6,000‑square‑foot mezzanine and additional loading docks. The same filings flag potential changes to parking layouts, outdoor storage areas and up to 18 docking doors that will be evaluated through the permit process.
Price, timeline and market pull
The Sterling Organization picked up the former Fry’s in 2024 for roughly $36 million and is budgeting about $18 million in renovations, with the total outlay at the site expected to approach $65 million, as reported by The Real Deal. County sale records and deal trackers peg the 2024 transfer at about $35.7 million, and brokerage listings are marketing the property for industrial and last‑mile users, per Sterling Organization and trade reports.
Why Fremont matters
Developers and brokers say turning empty big‑box stores into industrial space has become one of the quickest ways to deliver large, power‑ready buildings for manufacturers, robotics outfits and logistics operators that need footprints north of 100,000 square feet. Industry coverage has highlighted a run of industrial deals in Fremont this year, with investors zeroing in as AI and advanced‑manufacturing tenants look for more capacity, according to CoStar.
What comes next for neighbors and tenants
The project’s CEQA documents include a Transportation Demand Management plan and a vehicle‑miles‑traveled analysis that will feed into permit conditions and periodic reviews, according to the state's CEQA portal. By reusing the existing structure instead of building from scratch, Sterling says the property should be able to bring large tenants online more quickly, a key selling point for companies chasing big blocks of space in the East Bay, The Real Deal reported.
The Fry’s overhaul joins a growing list of shuttered Bay Area retail sites being converted for industrial and logistics uses. City planning staff and Sterling’s leasing materials outline additional details on scope, timing and opportunities as the project moves into the permitting phase.
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