Within the worn brick walls and faded “Kohl’s” outline of an old Mountain View department store lies a robotics paradise. Replacing clothes racks and shoe shelves, the space is now occupied by a machine shop and full-size FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) practice field.
It’s a temporary STEM center for local robotics teams — including Los Altos High School’s own Team 114 — converted from a Kohl’s just this year.
The San Antonio warehouse was purchased by the Los Altos School District (LASD) in 2019, with plans to eventually build a new school. However, construction isn’t scheduled to start until May 2026, leaving the building empty in the meantime. So, Mountain View High School’s Spartan Robotics team jumped into action, bringing their idea of a STEM center to life.
“This gave us an opportunity to showcase what a STEM center could look like, so there could be a more permanent solution for a STEM center for the community,” Spartan Robotics mentor Leonard Speiser said.
The former Kohl’s space is a vital venue for FIRST — an organization that provides robotics activities for youth, and the parent organization for FRC. Just recently, on Nov. 15, a FIRST Lego League (FLL) tournament — a Lego robotics competition for kids aged 4 to 16 — was hosted there.
“There aren’t a lot of spaces where events can happen for robotics,” Speiser said. “[FIRST] desperately needs spaces in order for these students to be able to come together and compete.”
Unlike sports, which have dedicated gyms and fields, robotics teams often struggle to find spaces to practice or host competitions.
“It’s really challenging to fit in between the sports programs that use the gyms and other spaces,” said Jill Wilker, CEO of Playing at Learning — Northern California’s official FIRST partner. “The budgets of these events are very low in order to allow as many people to participate as possible, and the school district allows us to use the space at a low cost.”
Before moving to Kohl’s, Team 114 practiced at Bloomhouse, a warehouse and community space in East Palo Alto. However, Bloomhouse came with some drawbacks.
“It’s very, very cramped,” Team 114 electrical lead junior Rayhan Merchant said. “There’s not enough space to even store your own materials there. At Kohl’s, there’s just so much more space, and we can store anything we want.”
With the additional physical space, there’s also less overcrowding when other teams join.
“A bunch of other teams would also practice at Bloomhouse,” said Spartan Robotics youth mentor junior Aarush Rajagopalan. “We would be there, but we wouldn’t have priority, so we wouldn’t be given as much time to work.”
The Kohl’s space is also more convenient for local students to travel to.
“Bloomhouse was a 40-minute drive with traffic, and that was really annoying to get to,” Team 114 scouting lead senior Edward Liu said. “People can now bike back and forth, too. Before, a very select, secret, chosen few got to go to Bloomhouse.”
Unfortunately, good things don’t last forever. Though the Kohl’s space has offered significant benefits to local robotics teams, when LASD’s new school begins construction in May 2026, they’ll soon need a new solution — or return to Bloomhouse.
“In May, the district will fence off the site and demolish it so we can build the school,” LASD Assistant Superintendent Erik Walukiewicz said. Still, that doesn’t mean the progress in STEM accessibility will disappear.
“We want to start elevating STEM team-based competition events to the level that athletic sports have support and facilities for,” Speiser said.
