Energy company Chevron's decision to sell its longtime headquarters in San Ramon, California, made waves across the Bay Area real estate market, but it's the future redevelopment potential for the 92-acre park that is expected to land the stronger punch.
The second-largest U.S. energy producer and seller ranked by stock market value sold its longtime hub around 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road to Sunset Development, the real estate firm that built and owns the adjacent 600-acre Bishop Ranch property. The $174.5 million deal closed within about three months of Chevron listing it for sale and was large enough to earn it a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Chevron subsequently signed a lease with the San Ramon-based developer to occupy nearly 400,000 square feet at Bishop Ranch, an East Bay community about 35 miles east of San Francisco, to relocate and downsize its global headquarters.
The purchase of Chevron's longtime headquarters — which the company purchased in the early 1980s — will give Sunset Development the space it needs to build upon its work over the past couple of decades to transform Bishop Ranch into what will become a $5 billion mixed-use Bay Area hub. It was essential for the developer to reacquire the San Ramon site in order to pursue its plans to build a downtown area for the East Bay suburb complete with restaurants, housing, retail and plenty of walkable, outdoor space.
About the project: The 92-acre park includes 13 buildings and room for more than 2,000 employees. Chevron has housed its global operations there since 2001.
What the judges said: "The sale provided an opportunity to keep an important local business in San Ramon while allowing for Bishop Ranch to continue its mixed-use redevelopment of the area," CoStar Impact Award judge Rachel Kram, a partner with CP Partners, said of the deal. Paul Magoria, a fellow judge and CBRE field research manager, added that "It has a huge potential to change the market with the highest and best use and away from a dated, corporate environment. It has the greatest impact on the local economy and was by far the highest of the sales by prices and size."
They made it happen: Sunset Development Co. President Alexander Mehran Jr. pursued the deal on the developer's behalf, while Eastdil Secured's Jeffrey Weber represented Chevron in the disposition.