Commercial Real Estate in Danville: Downtown Business Districts, Old Town and Town Zoning

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

Commercial property in Danville is concentrated in a walkable downtown along Hartz Avenue and Railroad Avenue, in shopping centers along Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, and in office pockets near Interstate 680. The Town of Danville writes its own zoning, and its downtown is divided into numbered subareas with their own floor-by-floor use rules. Always confirm a parcel’s district and any development plan with the Town’s Planning Division before you sign.

Who controls the parcel

Danville is an incorporated town, so the Town’s Planning Division, not Contra Costa County, decides zoning, land use permits and design review. Its zoning lives in Chapter XXXII of the municipal code, with district rules in Article VI.

A few practical notes:

Edges. North of town, Danville Boulevard runs into unincorporated Alamo, and the hills east of town include unincorporated land such as Diablo. Those parcels follow county zoning. See our Alamo commercial guide and Contra Costa County commercial guide.
Concierge desks. The Town’s Business Permitting Toolkit names separate business, planning, building and engineering concierges who walk applicants through permits. Use them early.
Business license. The same toolkit says a Town business license is required to operate in Danville, with fees that vary by business type and number of employees.

Danville zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

Outside downtown, Danville uses a set of older lettered districts. Downtown uses the Downtown Business District (DBD) and its subareas.

District	Intended uses	Notes
DBD Downtown Business District	Retail, restaurants, offices, services and housing in 13 numbered subareas	Use rules vary by subarea and by floor
O-1 Limited Office	Professional, administrative and business offices; no merchandise sales	35 ft or 2½ stories; 15,000 sq ft lot; 35% coverage; 15,000 sq ft cap per building
R-B Retail Business	Retail inside enclosed buildings, hotels and motels	50 ft height; outdoor retail, auto body, gas stations and 3+ apartments need a land use permit
C General Commercial	Warehouses, contractor yards, auto repair, wholesale, plus R-B uses	7,500 sq ft lot; 50 ft height; development plan required
L-I Light Industrial	Light industry without heavy loading or steam power	Three stories; wineries, breweries and nuisance-prone uses need a land use permit
P-1 Planned Unit	Uses set by an approved development plan	Check the plan for each center

R-B, C and similar districts all require an approved development plan before development, so a change of tenant mix can trigger design review even where the use is allowed.

The Downtown Business District and Old Town

The Town’s downtown zoning document splits downtown into subareas DBD 1 through DBD 13. The ones that matter most to investors:

DBD 1 and 2A, Old Town Retail. Retail, restaurants, bars, tasting rooms and outdoor seating are allowed on both floors. Business and professional offices are not allowed on the ground floor, only upstairs. Personal services and service offices need a land use permit at ground level.
DBD 2, Old Town Retail Transition. Most uses are allowed, but personal and service uses are limited to 75% of the ground floor. Offices again go upstairs.
DBD 3, Old Town Mixed Use. Offices are allowed on both floors; personal services are not allowed at all.
DBD 6, Business/Professional Office. Retail is not allowed; restaurants and bars need a land use permit.
DBD 7, Retail. Business and professional offices are not allowed on either floor.
DBD 9, 12 and 13. These are multifamily residential subareas inside downtown.

The document also notes that some uses are allowed only in free-standing pad buildings and shopping centers south of Sycamore Valley Road, and some only off the main pedestrian corridors. For a buyer, the subarea decides who can lease the ground floor. An Old Town building with an office tenant downstairs may be a legal nonconforming use that cannot be re-leased to another office.

Parking, outdoor dining and other Danville rules

Parking in-lieu fees. The toolkit lists in-lieu fees in DBD 1, 2, 2A, 3 and 11 and some other downtown areas served by Town parking lots: $3,500 per space for retail and $15,250 per space for non-retail uses. That gap matters when a retail space converts to an office or medical use.
Outdoor dining. Outdoor seating up to 25% of a restaurant’s or tasting room’s interior floor area needs no extra parking. Beyond that, it is parked at the same ratio as indoor dining space.
Signs. A sign permit is required, following the Town sign ordinance or the center’s master sign program. Temporary sign permits are free and handled at the counter.
Office parking. In O-1, the code asks for one space per 200 square feet, with at least five per full-time doctor for medical and dental offices.
Land use permits. A use not listed as permitted needs a land use permit before it opens, under the procedure in Section 32-3.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

Danville does not levy its own transfer tax. The Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder collects the county documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 of value, and posts separate city rates only for El Cerrito and Richmond. Under Proposition 13, a sale or other change of ownership generally resets the assessed value to the purchase price, so model the new tax bill rather than the seller’s. The Town requires a business license; confirm the fee for your use with the Town’s business concierge.

Due diligence that matters in Danville

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

Confirm the parcel is in the Town and not unincorporated Alamo or Diablo.
Identify the DBD subarea and check every ground-floor tenant against its use table.
Pull the development plan and conditions of approval for any center, including the master sign program.
Price parking in-lieu fees for any change from retail to office, medical or other non-retail use.
For outdoor dining, measure the patio against the 25% threshold.
Confirm the business license and any land use permit for each operating tenant.

Questions people ask

Who handles zoning in Danville?

The Town of Danville’s Planning Division. The municipal code’s Chapter XXXII contains the zoning rules.

Can I lease an Old Town ground floor to an office tenant?

Generally not in DBD 1, 2 and 2A, where business and professional offices are limited to upper floors. DBD 3 and DBD 5 allow offices on both floors.

What are the parking in-lieu fees downtown?

The Town’s toolkit lists $3,500 per space for retail and $15,250 per space for non-retail uses in the eligible downtown subareas.

How tall can an office building be outside downtown?

In the O-1 district, the limit is 2½ stories or 35 feet, and each building is capped at 15,000 square feet.

Where would a winery or brewery go?

The L-I Light Industrial district lists them among uses that need a land use permit with conditions.

Is there a Danville transfer tax?

No. Only the county’s $0.55 per $500 applies.

Do I need a business license?

Yes. The Town requires one for anyone doing business in Danville.

Does Diamond handle commercial property in Danville?

Contact Matthew Martinez to discuss buying, selling or leasing commercial property in Danville.

Sources & notes

Town of Danville, Business Permitting Toolkit (undated)
Town of Danville, Downtown Business District zoning and use tables (undated)
Danville Municipal Code Chapter XXXII via GoCodebook: Article VI, § 32-51 O-1, § 32-60 R-B, § 32-61 C, § 32-62 L-I
Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder, Documentary Transfer Tax

Note: The code text for § 32-45 (Downtown Business District) was not available online, so subarea heights and residential rules were not verified. We did not open the P-1 section text. Business license fee amounts are not posted.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.

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