Commercial Real Estate in Pleasanton: Downtown Main Street, Office Parks and Housing Opportunity Sites

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

Pleasanton’s commercial property falls into three broad groups. There is the historic downtown along Main Street, the large office and industrial park districts near I-580 and I-680, and regional retail anchored by Stoneridge Shopping Center. Much of the city’s business land is also zoned Planned Unit Development, which means the governing rules sit in a project-specific ordinance rather than in the base code. Confirm a parcel’s district, overlays and any PUD conditions with the City of Pleasanton before you commit.

Who controls the parcel

Inside city limits, the City of Pleasanton regulates land use under Title 18 of its Municipal Code. Land in the hills and valley outside the city, including the Sunol area to the south and rural land subject to the county’s Measure D, is regulated by Alameda County instead. See our Alameda County commercial guide and Sunol page.

Chapter 18.24 lists the city’s base districts and overlays. Besides the commercial and industrial districts below, it creates a PUD district, a Downtown Revitalization district, a Core Area Overlay, an Active Ground-Floor Overlay, a West Foothill Road Corridor Overlay and a Housing Opportunity Zone. A single parcel can carry several of these at once.

Pleasanton zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

District	Intended uses	Notes
O Office	Offices outside the commercial districts, built to high site and landscape standards	Work must be inside an enclosed building. Firearm sales prohibited
C-N Neighborhood Commercial	Shopping, offices and services for nearby residents	Liquor and convenience stores need a CUP. No firearm sales
C-C Central Commercial	Compact, intensive central business district	Drive-ins and frontage-breaking uses limited. Housing allowed up to 43.6 units per acre
C-R Regional Commercial	A major shopping center for the wider Amador-Livermore Valley	Liquor stores permitted in C-R(m) and C-R(p) only
C-S Service Commercial	Large-site commercial uses with little foot traffic	Catches uses that do not fit other C districts
C-F Freeway Interchange	Uses serving freeway travelers and tourists at city entrances	Nuisance-prone service uses limited. No firearm sales
C-A Automobile	Auto-oriented commercial	Listed in Chapter 18.24
MU-D / MU-T Mixed Use	MU-D: a mixed-use destination at the south end of downtown. MU-T: lower-intensity commercial	MU-D projects need City Council PUD approval
I-P Industrial Park	Research and light industry near homes and shops	Noise measured at the site boundary
I-G General Industrial	Industries incompatible with most other uses	Noise measured at R or O district boundaries
PUD Planned Unit Development	Project-specific zoning used across many business parks	Rules are in the adopting ordinance

All the commercial districts share one use table, Table 18.44.080. Any use not listed as permitted or conditional is prohibited unless the city makes a similar-use determination. In every C district, business must be conducted inside a fully enclosed building, with limited exceptions. Exterior changes go through design review. Bulk, height and FAR limits are set in Table 18.84.010, an attachment we could not open online, so get them from Planning.

Downtown Main Street rules

Downtown is where Pleasanton’s rules are most specific. Three layers apply:

Downtown Revitalization district. Chapter 18.74 adds design review under the council’s downtown design guidelines. Where it conflicts with the base zoning, Chapter 18.74 controls. The zoning administrator must act on a complete architectural plan within 30 days unless the applicant agrees to more time.
Active Ground-Floor Overlay. Chapter 18.81 requires active uses in ground-floor spaces facing Main Street and other streets shown on the Downtown Specific Plan diagram. Spaces without primary access from those streets are excluded. The Community Development Director can grant an exception only for a space vacant six months or more with documented marketing, a storefront under 10 feet wide, or a purpose-built bank building.
Downtown Specific Plan limits. In the specific plan area, a retail tenant space over 7,500 square feet needs a CUP, and innovation-based businesses are not permitted. Basement storage can count as warehousing if it meets conditions on materials, access hours and parking.

For an investor, the overlay matters most. A Main Street storefront usually cannot be leased to an office, a gym or a back-of-house user without an exception, so underwrite the building with retail, dining or other active tenants in mind.

Office parks, innovation uses and housing sites

Innovation-based businesses. Section 18.84.150 lets innovation-based businesses build to 55 feet in the O, I-P and I-G districts and certain PUDs, and to 85 feet in C-R(p). That is a meaningful allowance for lab and R&D conversions.

Industrial performance standards. I-P and I-G sites must meet limits on noise, odor, vibration, glare, radiation and emissions, with BAAQMD rules for hazardous emissions. New buildings need underground utilities, and transformers and generators must be screened.

Housing Opportunity Zone. Chapter 18.38 applies to the city’s 2023–2031 housing element sites. They include Stoneridge Shopping Center and the Dublin/Pleasanton BART parking lot. On the listed lower-income sites, housing with at least 20% lower-income units is allowed by right. New mixed-use buildings there must be at least half residential by floor area. The HOZ does not bar a commercial-only project the base zoning allows. Still, an owner of a commercial site in the HOZ should value it as a potential housing site.

Use permits worth knowing

Any use with a drive-through needs a conditional use permit.
Full-service gas stations are conditional and need a 20,000 square foot site and a 60-foot setback from residential property.
Bars and brew pubs appear as conditional uses in the commercial use table.
Tobacco retail is allowed only under Chapter 18.109, and it needs a CUP in C-N, C-C, C-R(m) and C-R(p).
Firearm sales need a CUP in C-C and the C-R subdistricts and are prohibited in O, C-N and C-F.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

Pleasanton does not levy a city transfer tax. The Alameda County Clerk-Recorder collects city conveyance taxes for eight cities, and Pleasanton is not one of them. Only the county tax of $0.55 per $500 applies, compared with $11 per $1,000 in San Leandro or $8.50 in Hayward. Under Proposition 13, a sale generally triggers reassessment at the purchase price.

Pleasanton’s business license tax under Chapter 5.24 is based on gross receipts. It runs $25 to $75 a year below $250,000, then $0.30 per $1,000 of receipts. It is due in January, and late payment adds penalties of 25% and then 50%.

Due diligence that matters in Pleasanton

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

Ask Planning for the base district, every overlay, and any PUD ordinance and conditions of approval.
For downtown storefronts, confirm whether the space fronts a designated active street and whether current tenants qualify as active uses.
For retail spaces over 7,500 square feet downtown, confirm the CUP.
For lab or R&D buyers, confirm innovation-based business status and the height allowance.
Check whether the site is on the HOZ list.
Get existing CUPs for drive-throughs, alcohol, fuel or tobacco and review their conditions.

Questions people ask

Does Pleasanton charge a city transfer tax?

No. It is not on the County Clerk-Recorder’s list of city conveyance taxes, so only the county’s $0.55 per $500 applies.

Can I lease a Main Street storefront to an office tenant?

Usually not, if the space is in the Active Ground-Floor Overlay. The Director can grant an exception after six months of documented vacancy, for frontages under 10 feet or for purpose-built bank buildings.

Is there a size limit on downtown retail?

In the Downtown Specific Plan area, retail spaces over 7,500 square feet need a conditional use permit.

How tall can a lab or R&D building be?

Innovation-based businesses can reach 55 feet in O, I-P, I-G and some PUDs, and 85 feet in C-R(p).

Can Stoneridge or the BART lot become housing?

Both are listed Housing Opportunity Zone sites. Projects with at least 20% lower-income units are allowed by right there.

How is the business license tax calculated?

By gross receipts: $25 to $75 under $250,000, then $0.30 per $1,000 above that.

Does Diamond handle commercial property in Pleasanton?

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

Sources & notes

Note: The online copy of Table 18.44.080 is hard to read by district. Confirm any specific use with the Pleasanton Planning Division.

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

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