San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch Offices to Become Apartments

Sunset Development Company is continuing its transformation of the Bishop Ranch office campus into a mixed-use walkable community in San Ramon.

The San Ramon-based owner and developer has filed formal development applications to gut 761,000 square feet of office space to clear the way for two new residential communities, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The plans would add 485 new units of housing to the property in the company’s pursuit of building 8,000 units on site.

Sunset’s proposal calls for demolishing the three-building, 652,000-square-foot Canopy office complex at 3000-5000 Executive Parkway, formerly known as Bishop Ranch 8. In its place, the company looks to build a 412-unit residential community of 255 detached townhomes and a 157-unit five-story apartment building.

Of the 412 units, 62 will be deed-restricted affordable housing and at least 22 will be reserved for very-low-income households. In Contra Costa County, very-low-income is described as making a maximum of $54,500 annually. The development qualifies for a density bonus under SB 330 with the construction of affordable units.

In addition, Sunset also submitted plans to build 73 housing units at 2 Annabel Lane, currently the site of Bishop Ranch 12. That development would replace a 109,000-square-foot office building with 64 townhome condominiums and nine accessory dwelling units.

The developer has publicly announced plans for nearly 5,000 units at Bishop Ranch so far, including the forthcoming Canopy and Annabel projects.

Elsewhere in Bishop Ranch, Sunset is working to redevelop the old Chevron offices on the property into 2,510 homes, 125,000 square feet of town-center-style retail and a 2.5-acre community park. That development, deemed The Orchards, is currently being analyzed by the city of San Ramon for compliance with zoning ordinances, the California Environmental Quality Act and other state and local standards. Final approval by the San Ramon Planning Commission and City Council are expected later this summer.

Other housing developments in the works at Bishop Ranch include Sunset’s transformation of a 10,000-square-foot office property into a 200-unit affordable housing development; Related California’s 380-unit luxury apartment building at 6201 Bollinger Canyon Road, expected to break ground some time this year; and AvalonBay’s 457-unit project across the street from Bishop Ranch’s City Center retail complex.— Chris Malone Méndez