SAN RAMON >> Bishop Ranch in San Ramon has launched a dramatic transformation from an office park into a lively East Bay neighborhood and downtown hub.

That was a major takeaway from a presentation on Wednesday by Sunset Development, the principal owner and developer of Bishop Ranch, regarding the site’s future as sketched out by the real estate firm’s top executive.

For decades, Bishop Ranch has been a successful suburban office park near the interchange of Interstate 680 and Bollinger Canyon Road. Companies such as Chevron established their headquarters there and numerous others such as AT&T have had a presence.

Fast-changing economic circumstances prompted executives with Sunset Development to craft a fresh approach to Bishop Ranch as it navigates a struggling office market in the region.

The evolution, if successful, would allow the 585-acre Bishop Ranch to become a true mixed-use neighborhood with offices, shops, restaurants, a hotel, and a burst of housing developments.

These enhancements could transform the business hub, which contains 5 million square feet of office space, into a San Ramon downtown locale.

“We’re trying to make the suburbs fun,” Sunset Development CEO Alex Mehran Jr. said.

The changes are poised to be dramatic enough that once the housing is complete, Bishop Ranch could accommodate 25,000 to 30,000 residents within its boundaries, Mehran estimated.

The first residential development in Bishop Ranch added about 130 home sales in deals that have brought hundreds of people into the park. As many as 8,000 homes are planned.

One of the more striking examples of the transformation of Bishop Ranch occurred when Chevron agreed to sell its vast headquarters campus to Sunset Development. An affiliate paid $174.5 million to buy the 92-acre property.

The deal also symbolized how Chevron had gone through a complete corporate life cycle while at Bishop Ranch.

Chevron arrived there in 1984 after purchasing the suburban outpost while it kept its headquarters in San Francisco. In 2003, Chevron moved its headquarters to its San Ramon campus. Then came the sales deal in 2022, whereby Chevron agreed to shift its head offices a few blocks away at a leased site in Bishop Ranch. But in 2024, Chevron announced it would move its headquarters to Texas.

Sunset Development’s deal for the Chevron campus marked just the start of what would become yet another transformation, this time of the Chevron property itself.

In December 2024, Sunset Development formally proposed a project on the south side of Bollinger Canyon Road just east of Interstate 680.

The new neighborhood, which is called Orchards, would consist of 2,510 residences, and include restaurants, shops and commercial sites, according to Sunset Development.

The other major evolution occurred with the opening and increasing popularity of City Center Bishop Ranch, a hub of shops, restaurants, night spots and anchors such as THE LOT Cinema movie theater and Equinox fitness center.

City Center Bishop Ranch, which totals 291,000 square feet, has managed not only to survive but thrive in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions.

“We are stabilized now,” said Jeff Dodd, senior vice president of retail with Sunset Development. Dodd estimated that City Center is now about 93% occupied.

The next major step for Bishop Ranch will focus on adding more housing.

“As hard as we always try to make the offices better, now we have the homes, the retail, the restaurants, and a lot of open space,” Mehran said in an interview with this news organization. “This new framework allows Bishop Ranch to become an energy machine for vibrancy. We’re starting to see that and it’s exciting.”