On October 8, 2026, the City of San José issued a building permit for "Dick's Sporting Goods" at 920 Blossom Hill Road. That's the former Home Depot near Westfield Oakridge, and it has been a scorched landmark on the corridor since April 2022. Dick's isn't new to this road, though. Its current store is at 680 Blossom Hill Road in Sunrise Plaza, so filling the burned building will also empty a space just down the street.
The permit closes one long-running vacancy. It doesn't yet say anything about the next one.
What the city signed off on four days ago
The record sits in the city's active building permits dataset, which updates daily and was last refreshed October 11, 2026. Here are the fields that matter:
| Field | What the city record shows |
|---|---|
| Permit number | 2026-139499-CI |
| Project name | Dick's Sporting Goods tenant improvement |
| Use type | Retail |
| Square footage | 98,961 |
| Permit valuation | $10,855,134 |
| Applicant and contractor | Menemsha |
| Review status | Building, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical reviews marked complete |
| Issue date | October 8, 2026 |
| Final date | None yet |
An issued permit with no final date means plan review is done and the work is authorized. It doesn't record a construction start, and it doesn't set an opening date.
The square footage tells you something too. The county's account of the fire puts the destroyed Home Depot at 98,827 square feet. The new permit covers 98,961, which is essentially the same envelope. That fits the July report in the Mercury News and SiliconValley.com, which said Dick's planned major interior and exterior upgrades "without expanding the square footage." In other words, this is a reworking of the existing building. It isn't a new one.
Four years from five alarms to a permit
The building's history explains what this $10.9 million job has to fix. Here's the sequence from public records and reporting:
- April 9, 2022. A five-alarm fire, later ruled arson, destroys the entire Blossom Hill Home Depot.
- August 9, 2022. The city logs a fire damage survey at 920 Blossom Hill Road, filed by W. L. Butler Construction. That's the only other record at this address in the active permits dataset.
- May 20, 2024. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announces a settlement of more than $1.3 million with Home Depot. Its investigation found that the store's sprinkler system had been disabled despite notice and that pallets had obstructed firefighters' access. The settlement included $850,000 in civil penalties, $150,000 for a fire-prevention nonprofit, and the fire department's costs.
- July 28, 2026. The Mercury News reports that Dick's has filed plans with the San Jose Planning Department to move into the site.
- October 8, 2026. The city issues the tenant improvement permit.
The scope of work lines up closely with what went wrong in 2022. According to the plans described in the July report, the interior walls, lights, and doors come out. Outside, the canopy comes off, and the building gets new light fixtures, paint, cladding, and landscaping. The mechanical, plumbing, electrical, fire protection, and fire alarm systems are all being upgraded. Fire protection appears on that list next to the cosmetic work, at a site where a disabled sprinkler system was central to the county's findings.
Why "House of Sport" is a reported label, not a permit line
Most coverage calls this store a Dick's House of Sport. That's the retailer's large-format concept, built around activities as well as shelves. The city permit doesn't use the name. It just says "Dick's Sporting Goods" and "Tenant Improvement." The July Mercury News story went only as far as saying the proposed store "would be in the range of" a House of Sport. It also quoted the company's own description of the format:
"House of Sport is a 100,000-square-foot-plus store that provides athletes with an incredible assortment of products along with in-store experiences."
By that definition, 98,961 square feet is just under the line. The San Jose Blog, citing the Silicon Valley Business Journal, called it a House of Sport outright on August 8, 2026, and said it was expected in 2027. Neither the city nor the company has published that date.
Here's what the format has included elsewhere, according to Dick's materials and the July reporting. None of it has been confirmed for San Jose:
- A climbing wall
- Golf bays with TrackMan simulators
- Multisport cages for baseball, softball, lacrosse, and soccer
- A HitTrax batting cage, a running track, and an artificial-turf infield
- At some locations, an attached field used for open play, clinics, and league space, which can become an ice rink in winter
The permit and the sources we reviewed don't mention an outdoor field at 920 Blossom Hill Road. Treat any field talk as speculation until plans show one.
Where San Jose sits in the state's lineup is easier to pin down. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in May 2026 that California's first House of Sport will be a 158,000-square-foot store in the former Macy's at The Valley, expected in spring 2027. The Sacramento Bee reported the same month that a store in the former Sears space at Arden Fair was scheduled for spring 2027. Arden Fair's online directory still lists that store as under construction. Among the sources we checked, Blossom Hill Road is the only Bay Area location announced so far. It's also noticeably smaller than San Diego's.
The space this leaves at Sunrise Plaza
Dick's isn't coming to Blossom Hill Road for the first time. It's moving from one address on it to another.
| Sunrise Plaza store | Former Home Depot | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 680 Blossom Hill Road | 920 Blossom Hill Road |
| Approximate size | 40,000 sq ft | 98,961 sq ft |
| Status as of October 12, 2026 | Open, still listed on Dick's store locator | Permit issued, no final date |
The new store is nearly two and a half times the size of the old one. The San Jose Blog says the move will replace the Sunrise Plaza location, where Dick's has operated for decades. None of the reporting we found says what goes into 680 Blossom Hill Road afterward. When the new store opens, roughly 40,000 square feet at Sunrise Plaza becomes the corridor's next open question, and right now there's no public answer.
Other spaces on this stretch have been turning over too. Next door at 932 Blossom Hill Road, the former Wagly Veterinary Hospital space was reported in July 2026 as the future home of an 18,277-square-foot Boot Barn. That July report projected a 2027 opening. Boot Barn's store locator now shows the San Jose address with daily hours, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, plus in-store pickup. We didn't find an opening announcement, so it's worth calling (408) 521-3069 before making a trip.
What's still unscheduled
Here's what is known as of October 12, 2026. The city has issued the permit for the building, the work list is public, and a valuation is on record. Several things aren't settled yet:
- A construction start date. Neither the city record nor any report we found gives one.
- An opening date. In July, the Mercury News said the timeline "wasn't immediately known." The 2027 estimate comes from secondary reporting.
- The brand and features. The company hasn't publicly confirmed the House of Sport name for this site or listed which activity areas it will include.
- The Sunrise Plaza space. No future tenant or reuse plan has been reported for 680 Blossom Hill Road.
When the permit gets a final date in the city dataset, the building work is done. That's the next public milestone for 920 Blossom Hill Road.
A new anchor on Blossom Hill Road changes what's within a short drive for a lot of nearby homes. If you own near the Oakridge corridor and want to know how that fits into your home's value right now, Tenczar Team can walk you through recent sales nearby and the retail changes coming to your stretch of the road. Get Your Home's Value, and we'll follow the 920 and 680 Blossom Hill sites with you as each permit and lease becomes public.
