{"id":487150,"date":"2026-10-06T18:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487150\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:04:19","slug":"golden-gate-fields-on-track-to-become-waterfront-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487150\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Gate Fields on Track to Become Waterfront Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

East Bay officials took a goodbye tour Monday of the shuttered Golden Gate Fields racetrack, which is slated to take the first step toward becoming a vast public open space for residents later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In July, California agreed to foot the bulk of the $175 million bill for the nonprofit Trust for Public Land to purchase the 160-acre parcel at the border of Albany and Berkeley, with hopes to transform the Bay Area\u2019s final horseracing track into a waterfront park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The officials picture walking trails, sports fields and cafes replacing the iconic red and green grandstands and mile-long oval track that drew horseracing fans \u2014 and college students looking for a cheap beer \u2014 for more than 80 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is so intertwined with so many people\u2019s memories, and it\u2019s super exciting to be\u2026 protecting this place for generations to come to continue to play,\u201d said Guillermo Rodriguez, the Trust for Public Land\u2019s state director. \u201cBut play something different \u2014 bet on kids running and not necessarily horses going around a racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track, on the border of Albany and Berkeley on Oct. 5, 2026. The Trust for Public Land plans to buy the $175 million property by the end of the year.\u00a0(Nina Glick\/KQED)<\/p>\n

In June of 2024, Golden Gate Fields held its final race, bringing an 83-year run, and horseracing in the Bay Area, to an end. Rodriguez recalled that as a UC Berkeley student in the 1990s, attending the track\u2019s Sunday \u201cDollar Days,\u201d featuring $1 entry tickets, hotdogs and beers, was a \u201crite of passage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where we filled up with all our carbs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Across the bay, the racetrack at Tanforan in San Bruno shuttered more than 60 years ago. Bay Meadows in San Mateo closed in 2008 as interest in the sport waned and concerns grew about the safety of the horses at the tracks.<\/p>\n

Animal rights activists estimated that thousands of horses died<\/a> at Golden Gate Fields during its operation.<\/p>\n

Both other tracks have been replaced with massive developments \u2014 a sprawling shopping center where Tanforan once stood and mixed-use housing and commercial space at Bay Meadows.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said that while those uses make sense for their locations, when Golden Gate Fields shuttered, it was the public\u2019s turn to get a new open space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mayor Peggy McQuaid said between the 100 people who packed into the Albany Community Center in person and even more who joined the meeting virtually, there were \u201ca lot of different ideas from the community\u201d \u2014 from public access to revenue-generating development.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is excited about what\u2019s really possible and exploring all the options,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The elected officials who toured the site Monday expressed similar hopes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to have it go back to nature, to have this open shore line, to have beautiful fields. There are a lot of folks interested in having sports fields,\u201d Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii said. \u201cI have three dogs so I\u2019m very excited to be able to bring them here and walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

California State Senator Jesse Arregu\u00edn said he would love to see some sort of museum or educational site focused on the natural habitat and role of the waterfront, which was wetlands before the racetrack was built.<\/p>\n

\"\"Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track, on the border of Albany and Berkeley on Oct. 5, 2026. The Trust for Public Land plans to buy the $175 million property by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

He also expressed support for some commercial use, especially since Golden Gate Fields generated more than $1 million in special revenue for the city of Albany, and about $700,000 for its school district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would see some level of development in terms of restaurants or cafes \u2026 that also I think add to the attractiveness of open space,\u201d East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks said. \u201cThat also gives more revenue-generating opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot that can be done with this, and I think the mayor of Albany said it best \u2014 It\u2019s such an enormous space that we can have all of these things,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Wicks said that when she first learned the track would close and land use would transition, she immediately asked whether it could be used for housing. While residential development isn\u2019t entirely off the table, she said, it would come with \u201cunique challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of the land\u2019s zoning, Albany voters would have to approve any residential development, according to Wicks. Adding the infrastructure needed to support housing on the land would also come with a significant cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not insurmountable things, but they also just present a different kind of reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track, on the border of Albany and Berkeley on Oct. 5, 2026. The Trust for Public Land plans to buy the $175 million property by the end of the year.\u00a0(Nina Glick\/KQED)<\/p>\n

There are also parameters to the funding that the Trust for Public Land will use to purchase the $175 million parcel. Nearly three-fourths will come from statewide funds for Proposition 4, a voter-approved bond for climate projects, including land conservation.<\/p>\n

The park district has pledged $20 million for the project, and the nonprofit is raising the remaining $30 million through private donors and additional public funding.<\/p>\n

The East Bay Regional Park District is expected to formally accept that they will take ownership of the property at a meeting on Oct. 20. The California Wildlife Conservation Board and California State Coastal Conservancy, two of the entities responsible for the state funds, will both hold votes on whether to approve the appropriations in November and December, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After all three votes, Rodriguez said the Trust for Public Land has until Dec. 15 to exercise its option agreement to purchase the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ending the preamble, and now the work begins,\u201d McQuaid, the Albany mayor, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East Bay officials took a goodbye tour Monday of the shuttered Golden Gate Fields racetrack, which is slated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-487150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487150","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=487150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}