AvalonBay Buys Entitled Multifamily Site in San Ramon

AvalonBay Communities bought 5.7 acres in San Ramon for about $30.5 million, a year and a half after winning multifamily development entitlements for the site, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Sunset Development Company, the developer of the Bishop Ranch master-planned community, was the seller.

The price amounts to $5.35 million per acre.

Virginia-based AvalonBay plans to build a 456-unit housing development known as Avalon San Ramon. The project, at 6200 Bollinger Canyon Road, will have five- and seven-story buildings connected by a breezeway, plus a rooftop deck, fitness center, pool and pet spa.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of this month, with the goal to open for residents by 2027. Sunset Development and AvalonBay received approval for the project last year.

While Bishop Ranch has seen several housing developments take shape in recent years, Avalon San Ramon will be one of the few to rise on vacant land.

The project is one of several in the works at Bishop Ranch. The City of San Ramon approved the first-ever 100 percent affordable housing project at Bishop Ranch in October. That project from Eden Housing calls for building 200 units on a 2.2-acre site at 2453 Camino Ramon, currently home to a 10,000-square-foot service center.

Meanwhile, Sunset Development Company has some housing projects of its own in the works at Bishop Ranch. The owner and developer plans to demolish 761,000 square feet of office space to make way for two residential communities.

That project requires the razing of the three-building, 652,000-square-foot Canopy office complex at 3000-5000 Executive Parkway and replacing it with a 412-unit residential community of 255 detached townhomes and a five-story, 157-unit apartment building, as well as the demolition of a 109,000-square-foot office building at 2 Annabel Lane to build 64 townhome condominiums and nine accessory dwelling units.

Sunset Development has so far announced plans for 5,000 units at Bishop Ranch.

— Chris Malone Méndez