SAN JOSE — Just a few years after experts insisted an Amazon-spawned “retail apocalypse” would doom several of the Bay Area’s big-box store sites, a growing number of the large commercial properties that once were home to Walmart, Kohl’s, Fry’s and other chain stores are finding new life.
While some have pushed for the expansive land hosting these stores to be turned into housing, a fresh crop of merchants is busy scouting for existing locations that could help them tap into a Bay Area economy awash in wealth created by the AI boom.
“Retailers want to be here,” said David Taxin, a partner with Meacham Oppenheimer, a commercial real estate firm. “This area has so much disposable income.”…