{"id":356990,"date":"2026-06-11T23:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356990\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:52:07","slug":"mountain-view-to-tackle-downtown-office-vacancies-as-rate-tops-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356990\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain View to tackle downtown office vacancies as rate tops 30%"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Mountain View enters the third year of a 10-year plan to revitalize the local economy, the city is seeing\u00a0retail vacancies<\/a>\u00a0trending down in the heart of town, while downtown office vacancies are increasing.<\/p>\n

The retail vacancy rate in the downtown area was 6.1% in April, down from 8.5% two years ago. In contrast, the downtown office vacancy rate sat at 31.5%, up from 25% in 2024. The data came as part of an\u00a0annual progress report<\/a>\u00a0on Mountain View\u2019s Economic Vitality Strategy, which the City Council unanimously approved at a May 26 meeting.<\/p>\n

In the report, city staff highlighted their efforts to implement various initiatives, including\u00a0zoning code updates<\/a>\u00a0meant to help small businesses, direct\u00a0grants for storefront improvements<\/a>\u00a0and the installation of\u00a0public art<\/a>\u00a0around town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a really effective job at having a broad portfolio of programs and strategies,\u201d Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella told councilmembers.<\/p>\n

In total, the city has completed six out of the 164 action items that are outlined in the Economic Vitality Strategy. Another 71 are in progress and 38 are considered ongoing actions without a defined end point. That leaves the city with 49 items that haven\u2019t yet been started.<\/p>\n

To judge the effectiveness of its work, the city has developed more than a dozen \u201cmeasures of success\u201d for the strategy, including the office and retail vacancy rates. Many of the metrics are trending in a positive direction, including a 10.1% year-over-year increase in downtown sales tax receipts and an increase in the number of downtown businesses.<\/p>\n

The Economic Vitality Strategy\u2019s overarching goal is to align residents, business owners and city leadership around a \u201cshared economic vision\u201d that fosters a strong community and economy, the\u00a0staff report<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Staff touted the city\u2019s recent creation of an \u201centertainment zone<\/a>\u201d in the downtown area, which\u00a0 allows public drinking along parts of Castro Street during special events. The city plans to activate the zone during upcoming World Cup soccer games. The city also pointed to its work to\u00a0launch a pop-up shop<\/a>\u00a0selling art by Bay Area artists in a formerly vacant Castro Street storefront.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Lucas Ramirez praised city staff for their progress thus far, but raised concerns about \u201cthe erosion of the industrial base\u201d in Mountain View. He suggested adding a metric tracking the share of the city\u2019s land zoned for industrial uses, along with a target percentage to stay above.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we approach that percentage, we should start to be very mindful about industrial-to-residential conversions, or any other land-use change that continues to erode our industrial base,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

Tackling downtown office vacancies<\/p>\n

In their report, city staff outlined their priorities for the next year of the Economic Vitality Plan, including targeting downtown office vacancies. The city plans to focus on strengthening its relationship with commercial property owners and brokers through efforts like the \u201cBroker Breakfast\u201d series.<\/p>\n

City spokesperson Lenka Wright said a major contributor to office vacancies in the heart of the city was the departure of Confluent<\/a>\u00a0after it was acquired by IBM. The tech company had been headquartered at\u00a0899 W. Evelyn Ave., near the downtown transit center. Additionally, she said that remote work has reduced the demand for traditional office spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore broadly, higher downtown office vacancy rates reflect market trends affecting downtowns throughout the Bay Area and beyond,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The city is evaluating strategies to attract and retain office space tenants, as well as potential opportunities to repurpose vacant offices, Wright said.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice<\/a>. Christina Casillas is a reporter for the Mountain View Voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Mountain View enters the third year of a 10-year plan to revitalize the local economy, the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[712,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-356990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-centerpiece","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}