San Ramon's Market Place Is Getting Smaller and Gaining Places to Eat

"The project would redevelop part of an aging strip mall into housing, which is an explicit goal of the general plan." The judges of the First District Court of Appeal wrote that line this spring about the Market Place shopping center at Alcosta Boulevard and Bollinger Canyon Road. DanvilleSanRamon reported the April ruling shortly after the April 23 hearing in San Francisco.

The important word in that sentence is "part." The redevelopment covers about 4 of the site's 12.47 acres, which is roughly a third of the property. During the same months the case worked through the courts, the rest of Market Place took on new tenants. Most of them serve food, which leaves the center across from City Hall smaller and organized around a different anchor.

The case is closed

The legal fight over this site took about five years. Here is how it ended, in order:

1. February 2023. The city approved TRC Retail's plan for 40 detached condominium units and four junior accessory dwelling units on the former grocery side of the center.
2. December 16, 2025. The Planning Commission extended the project's vesting tentative map while the appeal was pending.
3. April 2026. The appellate court upheld the trial court's ruling for the city and the property owner.
4. June 3, 2026. The neighborhood group Citizens Against Market Place Apartment Development, known as CAMPAD, asked the California Supreme Court to review the case.
5. August 19, 2026. At its petition conference, the Supreme Court denied review in case S296920, according to the court's published conference results.

On August 31, the group acknowledged the result in a post on its website: "Quite simply, the case and our appeals did not end the way we wanted." In the same post, the group said its effort had produced "major renovations to the Market Place."

The project did not wait for the final ruling. In early August, OpGov reported that the storefronts that once held Nob Hill Foods, a pharmacy, a dry cleaner and a hair salon were coming down that summer. No court had ordered a stay, so work could go ahead while the petition was still pending.

What comes down, and what stays

The demolition area is clearly defined. The city's Marketplace project page lists about 55,636 square feet of former Nob Hill Foods, Sports Clips, cleaners and pharmacy space to be removed. The rest of the center falls outside it.

The grocery history explains the current shape of the center. Nob Hill Foods declined to renew its lease and closed in mid-March 2022. By then, TRC had already opened Trader Joe's in another part of the center the year before. When the appellate court rejected the argument that former grocery shoppers would have to drive farther, it noted that five other grocery stores sit within two miles of the site, in addition to Trader Joe's.

So the big-store anchor was gone well before the bulldozers arrived. The remaining center now depends on the smaller businesses around it.

Who moved in while the case played out

The demolition area is one part of the story. The other part is a set of food openings on the parts of Market Place that remain.

Erik's DeliCafe, 159 Market Place. Erik's spent 37 years at 2551 San Ramon Valley Boulevard before moving to Market Place this year. The Mercury News reported that the signature potbelly stove and the historic local photos came along, as did the sandwiches served with Secret Goo, clover sprouts and a dill pickle on the side. CEO Brian Johnson, son of founder Erik Johnson, told the paper the new space offered "the best opportunity to remain in San Ramon for many years to come." Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Oke Poke, 188 Market Place. Bay Area Telegraph reported the soft launch in late July, ahead of a grand opening on Saturday, August 1. The menu covers build-your-own bowls with proteins like ahi tuna, salmon, albacore, shrimp or tofu. It also offers seaweed-wrapped "pokerritos" and poke nachos.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, 164 Market Place. In December 2025, the center had "coming soon" signs up for L&L. The chain's San Ramon location page now lists the restaurant at 164 Market Place, with online ordering.

Andaman Thai, 400 Market Place. This is the Thai restaurant the December 2025 report placed in the former Firehouse 37 space. Andaman's ordering page lists the address as 400 Market Place.

Taken together, these openings change what a stop at Market Place looks like. Before 2022, a trip there centered on a full grocery run at Nob Hill. Now the center offers Trader Joe's, a Starbucks the plan protects, and four places to sit down or grab lunch within a short walk of each other. Even CAMPAD pointed to the new signs in December 2025, calling them hope for "a potentially vibrant return to the Marketplace and our local shopping center." The court case and the tenant openings happened in the same years. They describe the same shift in the center.

The library side is busy too

San Ramon Library at 100 Montgomery Street is on the older side of the center, next to Chase. That is the part where reroofing was underway in December 2025. The library hosts the San Ramon Library Foundation's fall Jazz Series. The city's October 14 update promoted the second show of the season, Chicago vocalist Tammy McCann and her trio, on October 24. The next concert in the series is on Saturday, November 14, according to the City of San Ramon events calendar.

A November concert night at the library pairs easily with dinner at Andaman Thai or a stop at Erik's before its 8 p.m. weekday close.

What the new layout means for a weekday stop

Once construction moves from demolition to building, the center's footprint will look like this:

• The grocery side becomes 40 detached homes and four junior ADUs. TRC chose to pay an in-lieu fee into the city's affordable housing fund instead of building affordable units on site.
• The Starbucks remains, renovated, with 34 commercial parking spaces kept next to it.
• The remaining retail, including Trader Joe's, Chase, the library and the newer restaurants, carries on outside the demolition area.

The appellate opinion also mentions planned new driveways, pedestrian crosswalks and sidewalks. The court described them as improving "circulation, access, and visibility" within the center and on the neighboring commercial site. For anyone who walks from the library to lunch, those connections may matter more day to day than the housing itself.

For now, the clearest change is on the ground. Demolition on the Nob Hill side began this summer, and the rest of Market Place has four restaurants it did not have before Erik's, Oke Poke, L&L and Andaman Thai opened.

If you own a home near Alcosta and Bollinger Canyon and want to understand how a project like the Market Place redevelopment fits into your own plans, Yuri Lavrentiev is glad to go through the public record with you. Let's Connect.