Where is San Ramon's holiday season this year? Nearly all of it is at 6000 Bollinger Canyon Road. The Kristi Yamaguchi Holiday Ice Rink opened there on Nov. 6 and will take skaters through Jan. 3. The tree lighting, the Thanksgiving morning run and Santa's weekend hours are all on City Center Bishop Ranch's calendar too.
The address hasn't changed. What has changed is everything that has opened around it since last winter, along with the projects approved to follow. In 2020, San Ramon adopted the CityWalk Master Plan to turn 135 acres of Bishop Ranch office land into up to 4,500 multifamily homes, along with recreation space, a hotel and 170,000 square feet of added retail. The build-out horizon was set at 20 to 30 years, according to a Pleasanton Weekly cover story. This is the first holiday season in which a resident can see that plan from the rink: a new park, a trail bridge, a filled-in tenant roster and approved neighborhoods with addresses a few numbers away from the plaza.
The calendar, from opening night to the last skate
The center's event calendar puts the next six weeks in one place. Here is what's scheduled from publication day forward.
| Date | What's on | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Family photo night at the rink; "Girl Dinner & a Movie" | Two events, one evening |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Meyhouse Jazz: Paula West | At Meyhouse |
| Nov. 13–14 | Heller Jewelers 30th-anniversary open house | Two days |
| Sat., Nov. 14 and Nov. 21 | San Ramon Farmers Market | Two November Saturdays |
| Nov. 14–15, 21–22, 28–29 | Slanted Door brunch weekends | Three weekends |
| Saturdays, Nov. 14–Dec. 19 | Learn to Skate Academy, ages 5–14 | No class Nov. 28 |
| Thu., Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 | Trivia at Social Affair | Two nights |
| Fri., Nov. 20, 6–7 p.m. | Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony | Monte Vista Band, singers, Santa's arrival |
| Nov. 21–22, Nov. 27–29, Dec. 5–6, Dec. 12–13, Dec. 19–20 | Visits with Santa in Alexander Square | 12–4 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov. 26, 8:30–10:30 a.m. | Bishop Ranch Turkey Trot | 5K plus a .05K Tiny Turkey Fun Run for children under five |
| Thu., Dec. 3 | K-pop night at the rink | Theme night |
| Thu., Dec. 10 | "Stars & Stripes on Ice" | Theme night |
| Thu., Dec. 17 | Olivia Rodrigo Night at the rink | Theme night |
The tree lighting runs one hour on a Friday evening, with the Monte Vista Band and Santa's arrival on the program. Santa then holds afternoon hours in Alexander Square on most weekends through Dec. 20. On Thanksgiving morning, the Bishop Ranch Turkey Trot benefits the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, and it includes a .05K course for runners under five. The Learn to Skate Academy is a five-week Saturday program for ages 5 to 14. It skips the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Salt & Straw's Thanksgiving flavor series runs through Nov. 26.
The Nov. 13 jazz night is booked at a venue City Center didn't have a year ago.
Four new names on the directory, and one familiar one getting bigger
Meyhouse, a contemporary Turkish restaurant with locations in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, opened its first East Bay location in the former Dumpling Time space. DanvilleSanRamon.com dated the soft opening to April 30, with lunch service starting May 2 and jazz programming starting May 8. The space covers 5,400 square feet and combines a dining room with a small live-music venue. That's why a jazz singer appears on a shopping center's November calendar.
Meyhouse was one of four additions The Mercury News reported in June:
- Rico Rico Taco, an Oakland concept making handmade tortillas and tacos inspired by Mexico City street food, in 1,500 square feet. DanvilleSanRamon.com placed it in the former C Casa Taqueria site next door to Fieldwork Brewing, and it now appears in the center's directory with daily hours.
- lululemon, which leased the former Nike store, about 5,500 square feet, for a one-year pop-up. The center's directory places it near Sephora.
- Lil Sweet Treat, a sweets shop with rotating stock sourced from Sweden, Spain, France, Belgium and elsewhere.
- Escapology, already at City Center in 4,800 square feet, announced a 1,400-square-foot party space next door.
In the same Mercury News report, Jeff Dodd, senior vice president of retail at Sunset Development, framed the group this way:
"This group strengthens what City Center offers the community and gives people more reasons to make visiting the center part of their routine."
The key word is routine. Sunset Development built Bishop Ranch, and the same Mercury News article describes the company as guiding the area's transformation into "a new downtown for the city." A downtown needs reasons to come back on an ordinary Tuesday, not only on tree-lighting night. A taco counter, a candy shop and a jazz room are that kind of tenant. The next section is about what's being built to put people close enough to use them.
Heritage Park, the first of fifty
In May, city officials and Sunset Development opened Heritage Park near Bollinger Canyon Road and Walnut Drive. It has a children's playground, green space and a public art installation. DanvilleSanRamon.com reported that it is the first of 50 new parks planned under the CityWalk Master Plan.
The park's centerpiece is the Little Big House, an interactive sculpture by R&R Studios. "Our vision was to create a social sculpture where stories take shape and imagination meets everyday life," artist Roberto Behar said in the same DanvilleSanRamon.com report. Sunset Development called the piece the first in a series of permanent public artworks, funded by a $20 million public art program.
The park's location is part of the story. It sits next to two other pieces of the plan that are already built:
- Belmont Village, a six-story senior living community at 6151 Bollinger Canyon Road. Its 177 units opened at the end of 2024, making it the first completed project at Bishop Ranch 1A.
- The Iron Horse Trail overcrossing at Bollinger Canyon Road, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge the City of San Ramon opened to the public on July 19, 2025.
Last holiday season, the overcrossing was a few months old and the park didn't exist. This year, a family heading to the rink can add a playground stop, and the regional trail crosses Bollinger Canyon Road on its own span instead of at street level. San Ramon Mayor Mark Armstrong described Heritage Park as an example of "what's possible when public vision and private investment come together."
What fills in after the rink comes down
The rink closes Jan. 3. The projects that will shape the next several holiday seasons around it have moved forward this year, and most have addresses very close to City Center's.
The Orchards, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road. Its address is one digit off City Center's. The 92-acre plan has three districts and calls for 2,510 homes over 20 years. The first district, the Neighborhood District, covers 230 detached homes, 138 attached townhomes and 58 accessory dwelling units. The Planning Commission approved it on Feb. 3, 2026. An appeal followed, and on April 7 the City Council unanimously denied the appeal and upheld the approval.
Canopy at Bishop Ranch 8, 3000–5000 Executive Parkway. This project replaces office buildings with 416 homes: 255 detached houses and a five-story, 161-unit affordable apartment building assigned to Eden Housing. In July, The Mercury News reported that Hearthstone, a land-banking company, bought the 27-acre site for $156 million. Lennar intends to develop 25 acres, and Sunset plans to keep two. The plan includes a five-block linear park, a community pool, a clubhouse and a children's play area.
The Trails, on Bishop Ranch's northwestern land. Trumark announced two neighborhoods here in August: Promenade, with 67 single-family homes, and Paseo, with 128 townhomes. According to Contra Costa News, models and sales are planned for fall 2027.
2000–2010 Crow Canyon Place. A proposal would replace two four-story office buildings on 12.29 acres with 222 homes, including a fully affordable apartment component. The Planning Commission held a study session on it on Nov. 3, with no formal action.
Offices aren't leaving all at once. In April, The Mercury News reported that Cloud Software Group leased 55,000 square feet at 2623 Camino Ramon, more than doubling its space there. The same article put Bishop Ranch at 585 acres, with 5 million square feet of offices, 1 million square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment, and 8,000 planned residences. It estimated the overall investment at $5 billion and quoted Sunset's stated aim of a "10-minute lifestyle." Sunset's own residences page says 1,000 homes are underway.
Those figures describe a timeline the holiday calendar already reflects. The rink, the tree and the Turkey Trot are fixed points on a site that keeps changing around them. This year's changes include a jazz room in a former dumpling restaurant, a playground beside a trail bridge, and an approved neighborhood across from the plaza, at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road.
If the projects taking shape around City Center figure into your own plans for the next few years, Roh Habibi and The Habibi Group can go through what's approved, what's proposed and where each one stands. Book a Confidential Real Estate Consultation, ideally before the rink closes on Jan. 3.
