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Office space throughout the East Bay is just about filled up, but three new office buildings are in the works for West Berkeley. 

The three planned buildings – one renovation and two new structures – will produce more than 40,000 square-feet of office space, some of which may be filled by technology companies. 

“We’ve had a hard time providing space for the rapidly expanding technology sector,” said Bill Lambert, the city’s manager of economic development, who described the 2 percent vacancy rate for office space in Berkeley as “incredibly low.” 

While he said the amount of new space these buildings will add is not huge, it will help meet the demand. 

Designer and developer Michael Goldin, who operates businesses from offices at 2332 Fifth St., has the zoning go-ahead to build two new buildings next door at 2336 Fifth in what is now an empty lot. He’s also planning to remodel the old vacant Berkeley Brass Foundry at 2629 Seventh St. 

He said a medium-size company could come into the foundry structure on an 8,000-square-foot plate, or a company could take the entire 21,000 square feet. One of the new buildings will be two-story, the other three-story, about 23,000 square feet. 

Goldin heads Goldin Design and Swervco, which involves design and fabrication of furniture and convenes the services of subcontractors, he said. With the new buildings he’ll take on the roles of developer and landlord. 

The new buildings will be mixed use, blending offices and live/work units. He plans three live/work units in the new structures. 

Goldin appreciates the West Berkeley zoning that allows for multiple uses. 

“It’s a dense region, people working and living there, retail area, all kinds of different businesses can happen here,” he said. 

The designer practices what he preaches; he and his wife, an artist, and their two children live near his offices in an industrial building. 

He compared the West Berkeley zoning that allows a diversity of uses with Europe’s mixture of homes and retail in the same general location, and he contrasted it with the Berkeley Hills, a strictly residential area. 

But there are problems with multiple use, he admits. Residents may have to live with industrial smells and noise or newcomers may complain about businesses that came long before they did. 

For the two new structures he wants to develop, he had to pass through Preliminary Design Review, zoning and Final Design Review stages with the city. 

Although the Berkeley Brass Foundry is not a landmark, he said they worked with the Landmarks Preservation Commission for five or six months. The entire process from pre-design to final approval took more than 16 months. 

Goldin wants to remove the wooden part in front of the Foundry and preserve the steel truss section in the back of the building that no longer will be zoned for industrial use. 

He believes the zoning process drains creative potential and feels it could be expedited. 

“We’re working within the required boundaries, and we passed,” he said. 

“We spent a lot of time to make the neighbors aware of the project and to listen to concerns. Everybody has the proper intentions. It’s very difficult to get through the process unscathed.” 

He wants to wire the new and remodeled buildings with fiber optic cable, and he envisions a “thumb key,” a high-tech mode of entry that would electronically identify occupants by their thumbprints. 

“We’re trying to make a project something out of the ordinary. 

“The whole reason I love design and the development is to support my habit as a designer. We want to create new ideas and exciting environments.”