East Side Danville Neighborhoods

Along Sycamore Valley Road From 680 Continuing Up Camino Tassajara And Beyond Blackhawk

This was where Danville's major development has taken place from the 1970's and this is still where the major new construction is happening with developments from Shappell Industries, Lennar and others at the eastern extremity of Danville.

The first of these major developments is Sycamore, which extends to both sides of Sycamore Valley Road a short distance from the 680 freeway. These are mostly single family homes, many of them ranch style although there are some two storey homes and there are even townhomes and duets to be found. Floor plans are many and varied and lot sizes are generous by today's standards and many of these resdences have been sigificantly remodeled and expanded. In general terms, Sycamore is a very desirable place to live although it has to be noted that there are still a few fixers here, particularly of a cosmetic nature.

Moving along, the next significant development is Diablo Highlands, to the north and and east of Camino Tassajara as it joins up with Sycamore Valley Road. This is a large Shappell development which is beginning to show its age in some homes althoug many have been updated and the majority are particularly well maintained. The high level of construction for which Shappell has long been noted is quite evident here.

Diablo Highlands is one of the earliest examples in Danville of homes which, for the time, had very small lots. One wonders what the reactions of locals would have been when construction began here with lot sizes that must have appeared miniscule after the older home sites on the west side of Danville.

As we progress eastwards from Diablo Highlands we pass through neighborhoods that were developed more or less consecutively in the 1980s and 1990s (Danville's boom years?): Andersen Ranch on the north side then a couple of townhome developments, Brookview and Meadow Creek on the south side. Other significant developments moving along are Northridge and Wood Ranch / Cimarron Hills. There are then a number of smaller townhome developments leading up to the junction with Blackhawk Road and the major shopping centers of The Shops At Blackhawk and Tassajara Crossing. To the south here, off Crow Canyon Road, is Tassajara Ranch, a large development of single family homes of varying sizes.

Continuing east beyond the shopping centers, we find the large Bettencourt Ranch development. These are homes built in the 1980s by local builder, Carl Dame and are notable for the fact that many of these homes have generous sized lots compared with others built in the same period. Dame also built Shadow Creek, the adjacent development to Bettencourt Ranch where the homes have quite distinctive internal design features making much use of architectural columns.

Across from Bettencourt Ranch, Tassajara Ranch continues and is followed by Vista Tassajara and California Meadows.

From this point on, we are heading into much more recent construction including the popular Wendt Ranch development by Shappell Industries and neighborhoods recently completed and soon to be completed by Lennar, KB Homes and Ponderosa. Beyond these is Shappell's latest development, Alamo Creek and while it has to be noted that this is really a long way from downtown Danville, it is a high quality development, typical of Shappell Industries and has gained instant popularity among new home buyers.

So the almost 10 mile stretch from downtown Danville to Alamo Creek can be seen as a chronological history of development from the 1970s to the present day. This is a popular part of Danville and homes tend to hold their value here very well.