Photo Credit: Google Images
(SAN RAMON, CA.) – The Gateway Centre, located in San Ramon, was recently bought in a lucrative deal by a Bay Area company. The shopping center is located at 21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd. and was purchased by real estate mogul Bill Poland.
According to the Contra Costa County Recorder’s Office website, the deed for the property was time-stamped on Apr. 14, 2026 and bought for a whopping $47.8 million dollars.
Poland founded Bay West Group in 1979, and the real estate development company is based in San Francisco, CA. Bay West Development is another real estate acquisition company affiliated with Poland, and among the properties they have acquired is the Aster apartments in Dublin, CA that was built in 2017.
To find out what plans are in store for the Gateway Centre, OpGov.News reached out to Poland and his Bay West Group companies, yet as of the time this article was published, no response has been received.
The Gateway Centre spans a total of 112,553 square feet and sits on 10.6 total acres of land, as per the SRS Real Estate website.
Photo Credit: SRSE Website
OpGov.News proceeded to contact SRS Real Estate Partners, Executive Vice President Carlos Lopez and Senior Vice President Jeff Gates, who were involved in the listing of the property. Neither Lopez nor Gates responded to requests for comments.
OpGov.News also reached out to all the affected tenants individually at the Gateway Centre, and received a curious mix of responses, the most prominent ones being from Starbucks, Lucky California, and McDonald’s.
A member from the Starbucks Media Relations Department responded via email fairly quickly after contact was made. “We are happy to confirm that our store at 21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd. in San Ramon, CA remains open and operating as normal.”
When asked if they believe housing will be put in place since the change of ownership, they remained vague, stating, “we’re proud to be part of San Ramon and look forward to continuing to be a gathering place for the community.”
While Starbucks had no issue sharing its response, several sources pleaded to remain anonymous. Declaring concerns of privacy and retaliation from the new ownership, two sources had very interesting opinions to share.
The first, a long-time employee at Lucky California, admitted, “I don’t like getting involved, but I wasn’t made aware by anyone that this shopping center was sold. If they tear this place down, I wouldn’t be surprised.” They went on to express how they enjoy the work they do but are afraid of the unknown, “it’s scary not knowing what’s going to happen. I’ll probably start looking for a job elsewhere just in case.”
The next anonymous source, an employee at McDonald’s, confessed, “I’m worried about getting in trouble if I speak badly about this place being sold, especially if the buyer is in real estate. I do believe that housing will be constructed here instead, and I can only hope that it won’t be low-income housing.”
When asked why they believe that is the case, they mentioned how “everywhere you turn, San Ramon is building and constructing housing developments, and the traffic is plain horrible already. I’d hate to keep seeing all this unnecessary congestion in our city.”
Regarding housing concerns, several residents voiced their opinions on the recent sale of the property via a Reddit post. Three in particular mentioned how convenient the shops at the Gateway Centre are, noting the ease of everything being in one place.
u/thisistuffy says, “I do about 60% of my grocery shopping at Lucky’s. The prices are better than Safeway, and the parking is better than Walmart…it would really be a shame if we lost this center to housing.”
One resident specifically highlighted the potential ramifications of removing the retail spaces. u/MrAnalogRobot states, “the only thing I worry about with changes like this, is that there aren't a ton of convenient grocery stores around, removing some has a huge impact.”
Many concerned citizens also spoke out on Facebook, most notably the comment made by Maricela Dominguez-Lopez, posting that “these retail spaces are being bought up by developers in hopes to turn and profit into apartment buildings and/or residential homes at lucrative prices.”
While many believe the shopping center might close down, another Reddit user brings up the topic of rent increase for current tenants. u/This_Half7406 thinks “this mall is staying, but I could see prices going up for existing tenants given relative profitability. I’m totally guessing here, existing tenants please fact check me.”
OpGov.News spoke to Raj Parvathaneni who is the owner of two restaurants at the Gateway Centre, AmruthaVilas and Biryani Junction. He revealed that since the Gateway Centre was recently bought, his rent has gone up $2,000 for each establishment.
The rest of the tenants and business owners at the Gateway Centre either declined to comment, could not be reached for comment, or had no thoughts to share regarding the matter.
Time will tell if the Gateway Centre turns into the Gateway to housing.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at kathleen.p@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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