Berkeley Aiming to Draw Startups to Downtown
Proposed zoning changes include "over-the-counter" permits for less than 20K SF.
Berkeley is coming up with some new ways to keep startups in the city, including making it easier for innovative companies to acquire space downtown and along key corridors.
The city’s Planning Department and Office of Economic Development have proposed a package of zoning amendments to adjust permit thresholds and land-use requirements that are more restrictive than neighboring cities, according to a city staff report detailed in the San Francisco Business Times.
The amendments, part of an initiative called Keep Innovation in Berkeley, would allow and encourage R&D uses in the commercial districts of Telegraph, West Berkeley, University Avenue and Downtown Berkeley.
The definition of mixed manufacturing and mixed light-use manufacturing in these districts would be updated to specifically encourage R&D uses, including revising minimum on-site parking requirements for R&D uses in manufacturing and commercial zoning districts.
The proposed zoning changes also would allow companies seeking to occupy less than 20K SF to obtain necessary permits “over the counter,” avoiding a process of discretionary review that can take several months.
Berkeley is a hub of groundbreaking research, home to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of California, Berkeley, but Berkeley-born startups often move across the Bay Area as they start to grow.
The report cited as an example Bakar Labs, a life-science incubator that opened two years ago in the city that has already generated more than 35 startups that raised a combined $350M in funding. Five of those companies already have moved to the other side of the Bay Area.
According to Berkeley’s Economic Dashboard, as of 2023 there were 325 startups in Berkeley, including biotech and cleantech companies. Last year, 84 Berkeley startups raised $840M of venture and seed capital, with 11 companies receiving about $17M in federal and state grants for R&D.
The proposed changes in the zoning code also are aimed at filling vacancies in Berkeley’s office and R&D markets, the Business Times reported. In Q1 2024, Berkeley’s office vacancy rate hit 10.6%, while its R&D vacancy rate reached 10.8%, according to CBRE data.