- Esme Hyatt & Paarth Mishra | Staff
- Feb 6, 2025 (DailyCal.org)
Much of Downtown Berkeley’s Shattuck Avenue remains vacant, with one to two unoccupied lots per block. Despite efforts to reinvigorate the neighborhood, this issue has persisted since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Downtown Berkeley Association, or DBA, CEO John Caner, the vacancies are a result of high interest rates, the unhoused population and delayed development of several blocks.
Specifically, future developments have been postponed due to interest rates which spiked from 2% to over 6% in recent years, according to District 4 Councilmember Igor Tregub.
“What happened is that a lot of these spaces got vacant in anticipation of development, and then due to slowing down of housing market and interest rates still high, they’ve gotten postponed,” Caner said.
26% of retail spaces on Shattuck Avenue are vacant with around 35% of vacant spaces up for future development, according to Caner.
Tregub said high interest rates have also discouraged individuals from taking loans to start businesses.
“Part of it is developing the new housing — it’s having welcoming spaces,” Caner said. “And also with these development projects, even if you have a space next door that isn’t a development project, it’s hard because you’re on a block with a lot of other vacancies.”
Pegasus Books manager Tim Rogers said that for years, landlords in the Bay Area have had a tendency to not rent out spaces to businesses. Rogers also said public events held on Shattuck often don’t make their way down to the southern part of the street.
Caner noted that rents being high is a misconception, as many property owners are willing to give discounted rates to get businesses started.
According to Caner, the Peet’s Coffee on Shattuck closed due to profits being low and employees feeling unsafe with individuals struggling with mental health issues on the street.
Downtown Berkeley Ambassadors are often called by merchants to clean up glass and other materials as well as to encourage unhoused individuals to relocate.
Tregub said the city’s current services are “absolutely not working,” noting that it’s “unacceptable” when the Specialized Care Unit, for example, is unable to address mental health crises downtown due to delayed response times.
“There are some physical improvements (to make) as well around safety, better lighting,” Tregub said. “We do have limited funding, just as a whole, in the city right now, but those are all the areas I want to prioritize.”
With economic constraints surrounding business activity on Shattuck, the DBA is looking to reinvigorate the street by introducing more pedestrian traffic to the area.
Caner said the DBA will be holding various public events such as a Pride festival and jazz lunches, while one of the city’s initiatives is to bring more theatres or pop-up spaces into Downtown Berkeley, according to Tregub.
The DBA is currently meeting with commercial brokers to assess their needs. Additionally, the city has streamlined a part of the permit application process to encourage leases.
Tregub said the city is also looking at the initiative coined Vacant to Vibrant, a program helping small businesses collaborate with local property owners.
“We are probably the canary in the coal mine in terms of the high number of storefront vacancies,” Tregub said. “But we also have the opportunity to lead downtown with solutions in spite of the aforementioned resource constraints.”
