DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA — For more than 60 years, Danville Bowl was where birthday parties, high school dates, and league nights all played out under buzzing fluorescents and the sound of crashing pins. Now, the shuttered alley at 200 Boone Court is on track to become something completely different: a dense townhome community called The Lanes.
If approved, the project would erase the last traces of the San Ramon Valley’s only traditional bowling alley and replace them with nearly 50 new homes, in a move that sits right at the intersection of nostalgia and California’s housing crunch.
From bowling lanes to The Lanes
Danville Bowl closed for good on March 31 after its longtime operators announced that the property had been sold to developers who wanted to begin work right away.
In a goodbye message, management thanked generations of regulars and confirmed what many locals feared: the 24-lane alley and its sports bar would not be coming back. At the time, no one knew exactly what would replace it, only that the land had already been identified in Danville’s Housing Element as a prime site for multi-family housing.
Now those plans are public. A proposal branded The Lanes — a nod to the site’s history — would build 47 three-story townhomes and two junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs) on the 1.62-acre parcel tucked between Interstate 680 and San Ramon Valley Boulevard.
What the new neighborhood would look like
According to town documents and a recent staff report, The Lanes would function as a compact, attached townhome community:
- 49 total units — 47 townhomes plus 2 JADUs
- Three-story buildings up to about 40 feet tall, which requires a waiver from the usual 35-foot height limit
- 104 parking spaces, with 92 tucked into garages beneath the homes and 12 on-street guest spaces
- A single project built out over the former parking lot and alley footprint, with internal drive aisles and new landscaping
The project is using California’s State Density Bonus Law, which lets developers get waivers from some local rules if they include affordable units. In exchange, the proposal sets aside two townhomes for low-income households and both JADUs as very-low-income units.
Architecturally, renderings show contemporary rowhouses with repeating facades and balconies, more like a compact Dublin or San Ramon townhouse cluster than anything that has ever existed on Boone Court. For longtime bowlers used to a low, cinder-block building and a retro sign, it will be a dramatic visual change.
The Lanes has already been before Danville’s Design Review Board once, and revised plans were resubmitted in October. An update from the town notes that the application was deemed complete on October 24.
Next up: the Planning Commission. According to local reporting, commissioners are scheduled to consider the development plan at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 25, with staff recommending approval. If they sign off, the project could move through the remaining steps quickly because of the compressed SB 330 timeline.
If you live in Danville, you’ll want to keep up to date on this project as it develops! Make sure to join our free 925 News newsletter so we can keep you updated.
