Commercial Real Estate in Emeryville: Mixed-Use Zones, Retail Overlays and Bonus Density

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

Emeryville is a small city wedged between Oakland, Berkeley and the bay, and almost all of it is commercial, industrial or mixed use. Office and lab buildings, regional retail centers, light industrial blocks along Hollis and Horton streets and mixed-use projects all sit within about a square mile. Zoning here works in layers: a base zone, overlays that control ground floors, and General Plan maps that set floor area and height. Confirm all three for any parcel before you make an offer.

Who controls the parcel

The City of Emeryville regulates every parcel inside its limits through Title 9 of the Municipal Code, its Planning Regulations. Addresses near the edges can be confusing. Blocks along San Pablo Avenue, 40th Street and the Oakland border can sit on either side of the city line, and Oakland and Berkeley rules and taxes differ a lot from Emeryville’s. Shoreline parcels also fall in the Shoreline Management zone, and every use there must follow the city’s 1987 Shoreline Protection Ordinance. Sewer and water service and the property tax roll are handled outside City Hall, so verify utilities and taxes with the service providers and Alameda County.

Emeryville zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

Section 9-3.102 sets up the city’s base and overlay zones. These are the ones that matter for business property:

Use permissions by zone are in Article 2. Zone-specific limits are in Article 3. In the mixed-use zones, a site under one acre can hold a single use. A site of 1 to 5 acres needs a use permit or a PUD, and a site of 5 acres or more needs a PUD.

Overlays that shape ground floors and parking

Six overlays sit on top of the base zones, in Article 4. For retail and storefront buyers they often matter more than the base zone.

Neighborhood Retail (NR). This overlay covers the ground floor within 50 feet of the front lot line on eight streets: San Pablo, Adeline, Park, Hollis, Powell, 40th, MacArthur and Emery. Permitted uses there must serve the neighborhood and stay at or under 5,000 square feet. Each needs a public entrance, hours between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and a bicycle rack. General offices cannot occupy these ground floors. Alcohol sales are barred except at restaurants, and check cashing is barred. A use that misses any of these conditions needs a CUP. Qualifying local-serving uses of 5,000 square feet or less do not have to provide off-street parking or loading.

Regional Retail (RR). Large regional-serving stores may fill the entire building area. A CUP for a regional retail project must find that it supports the city’s role as a regional shopping destination.

Transit Hub (TH). Maximum parking is cut to half of the normal allowance, which matters for office and lab owners who count on structured parking.

North Hollis and Park Avenue. These two overlays apply the North Hollis Area Urban Design Program (2002) and the Park Avenue District Plan (2006) and their design guidelines. Review the guidelines before you plan facade or massing changes in those districts.

Floor area, height and the bonus points system

Emeryville does not set floor area or height zone by zone. General Plan maps set them, as Article 2 of Chapter 4 explains. Base and bonus FAR pairs run from 1.0 with no bonus up to 3.0 base and 6.0 bonus. Height pairs run from 30 feet up to 75 feet base, with bonus height above 100 feet. Heights step down at 45 degrees next to lower height districts.

Bonus FAR or height requires a CUP and points under section 9-4.204. The points owed scale with the share of the bonus increment requested, up to 100 points. At least half must come from affordable housing. Nonresidential projects meet that half through an added impact fee. The rest can come from nine community benefit categories, including public open space, zero net energy, small business support and mass timber construction. Any height above 100 feet requires the full 100 points. A project that uses the city bonus cannot also use the state density bonus. If a finished project comes up short on points, the owner pays 0.1% of construction valuation per missing point before occupancy.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

The Alameda County Clerk-Recorder charges the county documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 of value. It also collects Emeryville’s city transfer tax on full value, in three tiers:

• $12 per $1,000 below $1 million
• $15 per $1,000 from $1 million to $2 million
• $25 per $1,000 above $2 million

On most commercial sales the 2.5% top tier applies, so the city tax is far larger than the county tax. Under Proposition 13, a change of ownership generally triggers reassessment at the purchase price.

Emeryville’s business license tax currently has 56 categories, most charged as flat amounts or by measures such as employee count. Businesses outside those categories pay a 0.1% gross receipts rate, according to the city’s Measure BB page. Measure BB, on the November 3, 2026 ballot, would replace the categories with seven gross receipts groups. Its proposed rate is 0.4% for real property rental and for professional businesses, starting January 1, 2027. Check the result before you underwrite a lease or a building.

Due diligence that matters in Emeryville

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

• Confirm the base zone and every overlay, plus the General Plan FAR, height and density maps for the parcel.
• On NR streets, test each ground-floor tenant against the 5,000 square foot and local-serving rules.
• For an existing PUD, get the adopting ordinance and any amendments.
• For INL buildings, confirm any office use is in an existing building and has a valid CUP.
• Ask for any bonus points agreements and whether any shortfall payments remain unpaid.
• Model the 2.5% city transfer tax tier and the outcome of Measure BB.
• On shoreline or marina parcels, check the Shoreline Protection Ordinance and any regional permits.

Questions people ask

Sources & notes

1. Emeryville Municipal Code Title 9, Ch. 3, Art. 1 (zones, 9-3.102) (GoCodebook)
2. Title 9, Ch. 3, Art. 3, Base Zone Regulations
3. Title 9, Ch. 3, Art. 4, Overlay Zone Regulations
4. Title 9, Ch. 4, Art. 2, Building Intensity, Height and Residential Density
5. Alameda County Clerk-Recorder, Real Property Transfer Tax
6. City of Emeryville, Measure BB Business License Tax Reform

Note: Zoning maps are General Plan figures. Confirm a parcel’s mapped FAR, height and overlays with the Planning Division.

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

Related: Emeryville real estate guide · Multifamily property in Emeryville · Commercial real estate services