$125 Million Secured to Turn Golden Gate Fields into East Bay's Newest Waterfront Park

Sacramento, CA – Today, a budget trailer bill was unveiled proposing the allocation of $125 million through the Prop 4 climate bond to support the acquisition of the former Golden Gate Fields property in Albany and Berkeley. The property will be purchased by the Trust for Public Land and transferred to the East Bay Regional Park District.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reclaim 161 acres of East Bay waterfront for the public, and we are seizing it,” said State Senator Jesse Arreguin (D-Oakland). “With this $125 million investment, Golden Gate Fields can go from a shuttered racetrack to one of the great waterfront parks in California. For years, our community fought for a future where this land belongs to everyone—not behind fences, but open to families, cyclists, pedestrians and future generations. I’m proud to have championed that fight, and we’re not stopping until the vision is complete.”

The 161-acre former Golden Gate Fields property sits along a prominent stretch of open space along the East Bay, and would fill a gap by connecting Albany Beach, the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, among others, in addition to enhancing trail access to bicyclists and pedestrians.

The closure of Golden Gate Fields, announced in 2023 while Senator Arreguín was Mayor of Berkeley, resulted in a multi-year process working with stakeholders to decide the future of the site. In March 2026, the Trust for Public Land announced its intent to purchase the site for the purpose of turning it into a park. Earlier this month at a Senate Budget Subcommittee, conservationists, environmentalists, community members, and retired East Bay state legislators Loni Hancock and Tom Bates spoke in support of funding the project.

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