Another Bishop Ranch Site Purchased for Housing Plans

More offices in San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch are poised for redevelopment into housing.

Van Daele Homes, acting through an affiliate, purchased a 3.6-acre property at 2 Annabel Lane for $11.1 million, the Mercury News reported. To complete the purchase, Van Daele Homes obtained a $10.3 million acquisition loan from Comerica Bank.

An affiliate of Sunset Development, the owner and developer of the Bishop Ranch master-planned community, sold the property. Last year, Sunset Development filed a proposal with the City of San Ramon to build 73 housing units at 2 Annabel Lane, currently the site of a 109,000-square-foot office building. Those plans call for replacing the office structure with 64 townhome condominiums and nine accessory dwelling units.

Van Daele Homes intends to move forward with the 64-townhome portion of Sunset’s plans, Alex Mehran Jr., president of Sunset Development, told the Mercury News. “This is going to be another great housing project for San Ramon,” Mehran Jr. said, emphasizing the ultimate goal of “mak[ing] Bishop Ranch a great downtown for San Ramon.”

Van Daele’s adaptive reuse efforts are part of a larger housing push at Bishop Ranch. Sunset has expressed interest in having as many as 8,000 new residential units in the area. At full build-out, the neighborhood is expected to support a population of 25,000 to 30,000 residents, according to Mehran’s estimates.

Sunset Development previously filed plans to demolish Bishop Ranch’s three-building, 652,000-square-foot Canopy office complex at 3000-5000 Executive Parkway, to make way for a 412-unit residential community of 255 detached townhomes and a 157-unit five-story apartment building.

Other housing endeavors are underway at Bishop Ranch.

Last December, AvalonBay Communities bought 5.7 acres from Sunset Development for roughly $30.5 million, a year after winning multifamily development approval for the site. AvalonBay plans to build a 456-unit housing development at 6200 Bollinger Canyon Road known as Avalon San Ramon. That project will have five- and seven-story buildings connected by a breezeway, plus a rooftop deck, fitness center, pool and pet spa.

Prior to that, in October, the City of San Ramon approved plans for a 200-unit affordable housing development from Eden Housing at 2453 Camino Ramon. Eden is looking to build residences for seniors and families on a 2.2-acre site donated by Sunset Development.

The company’s plans call for a 120-unit residential building for working families; another 80 residences will be built for residents 55 and older. It would be the first affordable housing project to rise in Bishop Ranch.

— Chris Malone Méndez