{"id":225829,"date":"2026-03-18T21:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225829\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:06:08","slug":"empty-oakland-lot-set-to-become-a-16-9-million-waterfront-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225829\/","title":{"rendered":"Empty Oakland lot set to become a $16.9 million waterfront park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

A rendering of the future Tidewater Day Use Area on the shore of San Leandro Bay in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Courtesy East Bay Regional Park District\"A<\/p>\n

A map of the future Tidewater Day Use Area in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Courtesy East Bay Regional Park District\"Water<\/p>\n

Water specialist Roelof Stuurman\u00a0surveys the Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline during a tour in Oakland in 2017.<\/p>\n

Noah Berger\/Special to The Chronicle\"An<\/p>\n

An egret stands in the shallows at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park along Doolittle Dr. in Oakland in 2016.<\/p>\n

Michael Macor\/The Chronicle\"The<\/p>\n

The Martin Luther King Jr. Regional shoreline sits beside the bay along Doolittle Dr. in Oakland, as seen on Oct. 6, 2016.<\/p>\n

Michael Macor\/The ChronicleA $16.9 million project will transform a vacant industrial lot along San Leandro Bay into a seven-acre waterfront park, with construction starting this summer and completion expected in 2027.The new park will feature a multipurpose lawn, nature play area, outdoor classroom, shoreline seating, paved trails and interpretive signage, serving as a hub for hikers, cyclists and small-craft boaters.A recent $1 million federal grant will fund infrastructure to reduce stormwater runoff by channeling it through newly planted native vegetation.<\/p>\n

An empty industrial lot on the shore of San Leandro Bay in Oakland will soon be transformed into seven acres of waterfront park, in a $16.9 million project topped off by a fresh $1 million federal grant.<\/p>\n

The major expansion of a small picnic area called Tidewater Day Use Area along the Oakland Estuary is being managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. It manages the 741-acre Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, which surrounds San Leandro Bay \u2014 a tidal marsh and shorebird habitat bordering Oakland International Airport that connects to the estuary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Construction is expected to start this summer and take a year. When completed, in summer 2027, it will introduce a multipurpose lawn, nature-based play area, an outdoor classroom for nearby schools, paved pedestrian pathways, shoreline seating along the San Francisco Bay Trail and interpretative signage that describes the wildlife habitat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The park will serve as a hub for hikers and cyclists using the San Francisco Bay Trail, as well as for small-craft boaters heading to the nearby Bay Water Trail launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a park that responds to a community need for green space and access to the waterfront,\u201d said Toby Perry, project manager for East Bay Regional Parks. \u201cThe planning process has taken close to a decade, and this park will deliver, not only for the people of East Oakland but the greater community at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n

Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The seven-acre parcel, most recently used as a storage facility for trucking equipment, sits at the point where the estuary meets San Leandro Bay, at East Creek Point just south of the High Street Bridge. The area is a few miles from the Oakland Coliseum complex.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

The open space is not part of the portfolio of parks operated by the city of Oakland. East Bay Regional Parks is a special district that owns and manages parkland throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The regional shoreline was added to the district in 1979, with the seven-acre parcel leased out for most of that time.<\/p>\n

Phase 1 of the makeover was completed in 2024 with the addition of 22,000 cubic yards of dirt to raise the elevation of the park area by several feet and make it resilient to sea level rise. There is already kayak access, and a new paved parking lot with 130 spaces will be added. The project will include up to two acres of lawn, along with additional native grasslands, groundcover, shrubs and trees.<\/p>\n

The existing day use area, about an acre including a parking lot, will be closed during portions of construction, and there will be detours on the Bay Trail.<\/p>\n

A grand opening is being planned for summer or fall 2027.<\/p>\n

The $1 million federal grant was presented by Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, at a ceremony at the park site March 13. The grant is for infrastructure that will reduce stormwater runoff into the bay by funneling it through newly planted California native vegetation on what is now vacant land.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

“When we talk about justice, this is what justice looks like \u2014 progress,\u201d said Simon in a press release. \u201cIt means space in our community for folks to gather and enjoy the beauty of the East Bay. For generations to come, people will experience the rewards of all the hard work going into this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grant money will add to a patchwork of local, state, federal and nonprofit funding sources, with the total investment estimated at $16.9 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Regional Parks are meant for everyone, not every community in the East Bay has had equitable access to open space close to home,\u201d said Luana Espa\u00f1a, an East Bay Regional Park District Board Member representing Ward 4, where the shoreline park is located. \u201cProjects like the Tidewater Day Use Area improvements help correct that imbalance by bringing new shoreline access and environmental restoration to Oakland\u2019s flatlands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rendering of the future Tidewater Day Use Area on the shore of San Leandro Bay in Oakland.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[184,332,143,145,144,1727,1725],"class_list":["post-225829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-bay-area","tag-east-bay","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-outdoors","tag-parks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}