Navigator Schools gets OK to re-make old K-Mart building into new school campus

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A largely abandoned structure colloquially known as the old K-Mart building has sat vacant for more than six years except when it houses a Spirit Halloween store in October. Now, it faces a major transformation to become a charter school site.

On June 25, the Hollister City Planning Commission approved by a 4-0 vote the site and architectural design and conditional use permit for the building, which would become home to up to 1,070 students in grades ranging from transitional kindergarten to high school.

Hollister Prep and the San Benito County Polytechnic Academy are slated to operate out of the new school site.

At the meeting, the only opposition to the project was voiced by Hollister resident Gerry Wright, who raised concern over the safety of students because of potential traffic impacts to the area.

Navigator Schools CEO and Superintendent Caprice Young said under the best-case scenario, the project would be completed in 2030 and student enrollment for TK-eighth grade would remain at the current levels.

Hollister Prep, which operates out of the R.O. Hardin campus on Line Street, had 564 students enrolled in the 2025-26 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

Polytechnic Academy serves high school students and operates out of the Briggs Building on the corner of San Benito Street and Fourth Street in downtown Hollister, and had 39 students enrolled in the 2025-26 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

According to the June 2 commission staff report, the 94,279-square-foot building on the old K-Mart site will be converted into 24 classrooms for TK-8 students. Another 17 classrooms will be used by Polytechnic Academy high school students. 

The building also includes a cafeteria, two gyms, administration offices and a computer/library room. 

The new Navigator campus will also include an 18,526-square-foot play area, which according to the plans is located outdoors behind what is now Hollister Floors.

The play area consists of a basketball court and a playground. Young said it would be enclosed and its surface would likely be rubber, similar to city-owned playground areas.

Associate planner Brendon Coye said the engineering firm Kimley-Horn performed a traffic analysis and recommended improvements primarily to the existing parking lot that includes lane striping, speed bumps, pedestrian barricades and raised concrete pedestrian walkways. Additional signage and striping are also recommended on Ladd Lane and Tres Pinos Road.

Coye said, based on the traffic analysis, the schools propose to have the lone vehicle entry be behind the building via Ladd Lane and the route would lead to right-turn-only exits on Tres Pinos Road and Ladd Lane near the front of the building. 

Coye said the schools would be required to provide information to parents describing pick-up/drop-off, site access and circulation procedures. 

Wright said she spent 30 years in education and that she supports more schools but she feels the site is unsafe for children because of the morning vehicle and pedestrian traffic from Ladd Lane Elementary and Hollister High School. She noted there have been three accidents in that area in the last four weeks. 

“I don’t know when you did your traffic study, like what time of day or how long it lasts, but there are definite times when that is not a safe place,” she said.

Young said the new location is a response to the limited capacity at its current location. She noted Hollister School District officials recently agreed to send Hollister Prep middle school students to the Marguerite Maze Middle School campus.

To fund the renovation, she said the charter school would issue a $29 million bond to be repaid with its operating funds over a 40-year period. She said the bond would not be subject to voter approval. 

The project, which Young said has been underway for three years, comes as the Navigator Schools were set to cut eight positions for next school year as it faces financial headwinds.

San Benito High School District is challenging the San Benito County Office of Education’s approval of Polytechnic Academy in 2023. The school just finished its first year of instruction as it awaits a decision from the Sixth Appellate District court. 

According to court records, a hearing was held on May 7 for oral arguments. The case has been with the appellate court since March 2025.

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