In March, the City of Pleasanton counted the empty and changing ground-floor spaces on Main Street. Eight of the fourteen spaces on that list showed leasing or permit activity, ranging from lease negotiations to restaurant build-outs under construction. That left six with neither.
Many of the covered windows on Main Street have a tenant or a plan behind them. What slows things down is the buildings: a bank vault that's part of the structure, the longtime Christesen's storefront being split in two, and a new building whose restaurant has been promised for a long time. The wait at each address comes from what's inside it.
Eight of fourteen: the city's own count
The list was attached to a City Council staff memo dated March 17, 2026, and it shows each space as of March 5. It covers Main Street ground-floor businesses only. Here's how the addresses sorted that spring.
Leasing or permit activity as of March 5:
- 310-C Main St., the former Sole Desire shoe store, with tenant improvements under construction for Tori Izakaya
- 337 Main St., the former Bank of America, with lease negotiations underway
- 401 Main St., the former Cafe Main, with tenant improvements under construction for Nela's
- 503 Main St., the former Starbucks, with lease negotiations underway
- 629 and 633 Main St., the former Christesen's, with façade permits issued and the left half leased to a women's clothing boutique
- 711 Main St., the former Candy King, which the Main Street gas station's owner plans to fold into improvements at the station
- 725 Main St., a new building, with tenant improvements under construction for Mantra
- 828 Main St., the former Main Street Brewery, with the right half leased to a restaurant and the left half in negotiations
No leasing or permit activity as of March 5:
- 249 Main St., the former First Republic Bank, where the memo notes Chase Bank assumed the lease
- 260 Main St., the former Wig & Toupees
- 310-D Main St., the former Middle 8 bar
- 520 Main St., the former PRIMM Boutique
- 730 Main St., the former Tri Valley Upholstery
- 855 Main St., the right half of the former Handles Gastropub, next to Ruby's & Roses
Several of these windows went dark in a short span. Starbucks closed in July 2025, according to the Pleasanton Weekly, and the Weekly also reported that Main Street Brewery would shut on Sept. 21, 2025, after nearly three decades. Middle 8 followed on Jan. 11, 2026. Councilmember Julie Testa's own research put downtown vacancy at roughly 5% to 7%, which she told the Pleasanton Weekly is in line with other historic downtowns around the country. "While it feels like it's a lot more, that is considered a relatively modest vacancy," she said.
The buildings decide how long the paper stays up
The address with the clearest update since March is 337 Main St. In September, the Pleasanton Weekly reported that Maison Benoit, the French patisserie on Railroad Avenue in Danville, had closed on a lease for the former Bank of America building. The branch closed in August 2024.
The building is the holdup. Owner Benoit Vialle told the Weekly that the bank's safe was built into the floor plan and is part of the building's structure, which has slowed the demolition permits. He's hoping to open as early as the first quarter of 2027. The Pleasanton store will be much bigger than the Danville one, and like Danville, its kitchen will be visible through glass windows. He plans to apply for a liquor license so he can sell wine, and he's considering adding fresh crepes.
He explained why he chose this block: "Downtown seems to be very lively, very dynamic, and I think attracts people from nearby towns who don't necessarily have sort of a real downtown like Pleasanton does."
The former Christesen's building at 629 and 633 Main St. is a slower case. The western wear store closed in 2021 after 92 years. By March, permits had been issued to renovate the whole front façade and build out the right half, and the left half was leased to a women's clothing boutique. In January, Gabrielle Welk, executive director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, told the Pleasanton Weekly why some storefronts take longer than others:
"Some larger spaces, like the Christesen's building and the former Starbucks, naturally take longer to reposition due to size, buildout costs, and the type of tenant they require."
In the same article, she said many spaces that look vacant from the street have tenants making major improvements inside. She also said the PDA plans to use window wraps and newsletters to let the community know what's going on behind them.
The city memo makes a similar point. It suggests that Pleasanton's large share of older and historic buildings, which can be hard to lease, may be one reason its downtown has lagged Livermore's on vacancy.
Where the wait has been longest
Tori Izakaya is open. The Japanese restaurant was still under construction in March. Its website now lists its 310 Main St. address, hours and online ordering.
Planta Coffee House and Deli at 700 Main St. had a head start. Owner Germano Carlucci, who also runs Brava Garden Eatery up the block, bought the building in 2023, and the café opened in late November 2025. Diablo Magazine reports that the same team is planning Caramba, a Spanish tapas restaurant with Basque-style pintxos, in the former Frontier Spice space.
Mantra at 725 Main St. is a modern Indian restaurant with a rooftop bar. Diablo Magazine describes it as "long promised" for that address and says it is "finally showing signs of progress." On the restaurant's own contact page, the Pleasanton location is still marked "Coming Soon."
Nela's Kitchen at 401 Main St. has waited the longest of the announced restaurants. In late 2024, WhatNow reported a concept for 401 Main St. under the name Kabob, with owner Nelab Amin. In January 2025, the Pleasanton Weekly described it as an Afghan-fusion restaurant with a full bar, and the downtown association was hoping for a late spring or early summer opening that year. Diablo Magazine's latest list still has Nela's Kitchen under "Coming Soon," with no opening timeline.
The city is working on the permit line
Owners have pointed to permitting as part of the delay. In the Weekly's January cover story, Carlucci compared opening a business in downtown Pleasanton unfavorably with Livermore. The city has been responding. On Dec. 2, 2025, the City Council unanimously approved code changes that set a 10-calendar-day appeal window and exempted certain minor commercial and residential projects from design review, the Pleasanton Weekly reported. In January 2026, the city said it would look at further streamlining of commercial and tenant-improvement permits and write a "Pleasanton Playbook" that lays out review steps, timelines and contacts.
The March memo also put work on the street itself on the calendar. It set a summer 2026 target for repairing the Pleasanton Arch sign. It also scheduled a Main Street tree replacement for 2026: 26 new trees and changes at 31 locations, starting March 23. For prospective tenants, city staff offer early meetings with Economic Development, Planning and Building to flag problems with a project before they hold it up.
Main Street's calendar while the work goes on
The Pleasanton Downtown Association's 2026 schedule still has four events left between now and the end of the year:
- Halloween Brew Crawl, Saturday, Oct. 24
- Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28
- Magical Holiday Evening, Friday, Dec. 4, 4 to 7 p.m.
- Spirit & Sweater Stroll, Saturday, Dec. 12, 5 to 8 p.m.
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