One of the largest commercial buildings in Morgan Hill is on the verge of being occupied after sitting vacant for more than a year.
The Morgan Hill Planning Commission recently approved a conditional use permit for Shoe Palace, a shoe retail store with more than 50 locations throughout California and the Southwest, to move into the former Hospira building on Jarvis Drive, near the intersection of Butterfield Boulevard.
Shoe Palace plans to use the two-story, 250,000-square-foot building as its corporate headquarters, as well as warehouse, distribution, packaging and office facilities, according to a City planning staff report. The company’s headquarters are currently in San Jose.
The company plans to expand their sales and operations with the use of the building, and start online shoe sales from the site, according to the staff report.
The building was occupied by Hospira, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, from 2004 until 2011, according to the City staff report. Before 2004, the building was occupied by Abbot Laboratories, a medical technology manufacturer that built the structure in 1997.
Shoe Palace plans to initially employ about 75 people when they move into the Hospira building, raising that workforce to about 225 employees in the next two years, according to the staff report.
It is unclear from the staff report if Shoe Palace plans to purchase or lease the building. In his “State of the City” speech last month, Mayor Steve Tate announced the granting of the use permit as a hopeful economic development omen and said, “We are hopeful that a sale will go through.”
