Nearly six years after COVID lockdowns forced office workers across the country to work from home, employees are still making their way back into the office, with San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch complex leading the way.
The mixed-use neighborhood has seen approximately 60 percent of its workforce physically based at Bishop Ranch return to work, the Mercury News reported. That’s up from around 53% for the year prior, per Placer data cited by Bishop Ranch owner and operator Sunset Development.
By contrast, the return-to-office rate was 49 percent in Silicon Valley and 41.8 percent in San Francisco, per Kastle Access Control System data cited by the Mercury News. San Francisco climbed out of last place nationally in RTO rates earlier this year.
Employees are also seemingly spending more time at the office once they arrive. Average office dwell times at Bishop Ranch have climbed back up to 96 percent of pre-pandemic levels, representing daily stints at the office ranging from 5.4 to 6.3 hours. Some office neighborhoods at Bishop Ranch have even seen daily office stays exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Bishop Ranch is in the midst of a transformation from an office campus into a community complete with offices, housing, retail, restaurant, entertainment and lodging space. About 8,000 homes are in active planning or under construction at the San Ramon enclave.
The hope is that the increase in on-site living will in turn drive up return-to-office rates and office stay times. Sunset Development noted that walking to work has increased 11.8 percent since 2019, while commutes of 10 minutes or less have grown 28.2 percent. The positive trends seem to speak to Bishop Ranch being a “dynamic environment where businesses, employees and residents all benefit,” according to Sunset Development CEO Alex Mehran Jr.
Last month, the City of San Ramon signed off on plans for Bishop Ranch’s first fully affordable housing development. The 200-unit project from Eden Housing at 2453 Camino Ramon will bring residences for seniors and families to a 2.2-acre site donated by Sunset Development. That includes a 120-unit residential building for working families and 80 separate residences for seniors.
While more workers are returning to the office at Bishop Ranch, offices in general at the development seem to be shrinking, not growing. Several offices across Bishop Ranch are either slated for or in the process of being converted into housing. The East Bay at large is expected to see the most office-to-residential conversions in the Bay Area over the next five years.