San Ramon’s newest public gathering space is officially open, adding a brand new park to the rapidly changing Bishop Ranch area.
Heritage Park, a 1.4-acre green space near Bollinger Canyon Road and Walnut Drive, recently opened to the public after months of anticipation. The park sits smack in the midle of Bishop Ranch, close to the new Belmont Village senior living community and the Iron Horse Trail overcrossing, making it one of the most visible early pieces of the area’s broader transformation.
The new park includes a lawn, gardens, a shaded picnic grove, a tree-lined promenade, a children’s climbing area and a tribute honoring San Ramon’s civic leaders. It is intended as both a neighborhood amenity and a broader community destination.
The park’s most eye-catching feature is the Little Big House, a large walk-through public art installation shaped like an oversized house. The piece was created by artists Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt of R&R Studios and is designed to function as both sculpture and social space.
It reportedly cost $375,000.
The installation is also significant because it is the first major public artwork tied to Sunset Development Company’s larger public art program for Bishop Ranch. Additional permanent public art pieces are expected to be added across Bishop Ranch as the district continues to evolve.
That bigger vision is part of the CityWalk Master Plan, which covers roughly 135 acres and calls for a major long-term redevelopment of Bishop Ranch with new housing, retail, hotel space, parking structures and recreational amenities. The plan allows for up to 4,500 multifamily residential units, along with a 169-key hotel and as much as 170,000 square feet of additional retail over a 20- to 30-year buildout.
For San Ramon residents, Heritage Park is one of the first tangible signs of what that transformation could feel like on the ground. Instead of a traditional suburban office park built primarily around driving and parking, the goal is to create a district where people can live, shop, eat, walk, bike and spend time outdoors without needing to get back in the car for every stop.
City officials and Sunset Development celebrated the opening in May, describing the park as a public-private effort to create a more community-oriented downtown environment.
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