From major development decisions and long-anticipated business openings to debates over public safety, housing, and transportation, 2025 marked a pivotal year for Emeryville. The headlines reflected a city in transition, balancing growth and change with community concerns and the ongoing effort to define its future.

Local Government & City Planning

Councilmember David Mourra presided as Mayor providing a calm and steady hand following the departure of driven but often often divisive John Bauters.

Bauters reemerged from a crushing defeat in the County Supervisor race to appear on a Fox Reality TV Show.

It was a rough year for Councilmember Kalimah Priforce who was censured in late 2024, recused himself during a pending FPPC investigation for alleged violations and was struck by a car on his bike en route to volunteer at the temporary ECAP location.

Notorious political opinion blogger Brian Donahue was finally held accountable after years of online and personal harassment as a judge granted a permanent restraining order against him on behalf of two city employees.

Obituaries

The city lost longtime Emeryville Artists Cooperative residents Paul Herzoff and Dean Santner who contributed heavily to the city’s artist community. As well as Theresa Savage, the widow of Emeryville’s first Black mayor Robert Savage.

Development

Sutter Health acquired the Emery Yards Site in a massive $1B deal that sent shockwaves through the city.

The city’s Planning Commission pushed back on a plan for a Tesla Collision Center that was ultimately withdrawn but approved one for Rivian.

Local Business

Biotech, among the city’s economic engines for decades, continued to sputter with vacancy rates over one-third and projects once slated for large campuses being delayed or sold.

The Emeryville IKEA celebrated its 25th Anniversary and will remain the lone East Bay location as plans for a Dublin store have been withdrawn.

Clif Bar has vacated their Emeryville campus after being acquired by Mondelez in 2022. We are awaiting to see if the Peet’s HQ will suffer the same fate after another massive deal.

Housing

The city continued its downward trajectory in Homeownership with very little on the horizon. Emeryville is dead last in homeownership among SF Bay Area suburban communities.

ECAP returned to Emeryville in their shiny new digs named after its founder. The 100% affordable housing project offers units for those transitioning out of homelessness.

Transit

Roads were under perpetual construction in the city with some residents expressing their confusion and frustration.

Local businesses organized to make a last stand against the 40th Street multimodal project that threatens to extend this road construction, and traffic, for years to come.

We published a satirical take on the prospect of getting a BART station in Emeryville in our annual April Fools post.

Public Safety

The city experienced its first homicide in two years despite the city seeing an overall downward trajectory in crimes reported.

Former Emeryville resident Nima Momeni was due for sentencing for the murder of Tech Mogul Bob Lee but abruptly changed legal teams delaying this process.

Emeryville Marina residents were gripped by the saga of a beached whale that sadly passed.

Art & Culture

The Rotten City Cultural District helped facilitate the city’s first Film Festival as well as its inaugural Art & Culture month. The Art & Cultural month coincided with the opening of the new Gallery 4509 that hosted an exhibit featuring the work of Pixar employees.

Meanwhile, the long delayed Art Center project is at the crossroads after estimates showed the cost of the project had ballooned to four times its initial cost.

History

The Emeryville Historical Society continued to blanket the city with historical markers for their popular walking tours with their San Pablo Ave tour in the queue.

2025 marked 5 years since the Pandemic shut down the city and we provided a comprehensive timeline of events.

With the entry of Sutter Health, we detailed a similar political battle in the 1990s when Kaiser attempted to build a new hospital in Emeryville.

Food & Drink

Benihana announced a lease of the former Chevys space along the Emeryville Marina.

Rotten City Pizza called it quits after 17 years.

We finally have a Grand Opening Date of the highly anticipated Tokyo Central Market.

Retail & Service

Significant openings included Total Wine and the long-awaited Planet Fitness with a Burlington in the queue.

Looking Ahead to 2026!

It’s hard to predict what will happen in 2026 but items of priority that we’ll be watching are the contentious 40th St. Multimodal Project, the Grand Opening of the Tokyo Central Grocery Store slated for Jan. 31 and any movement on the Sutter Health project that promises to be transformative for the city.

2026 will also be an election year with Priforce and Mourra’s seats set to expire. If John Bauters decides to reenter politics it could make for a very interesting election.