Help Us Protect Golden Gate Fields Forever

Trust for Public Land is partnering with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the 161-acre Golden Gate Fields waterfront into a future public park along the San Francisco Bay. The site, a former horse racing track that closed in 2024, sits on a prominent stretch of East Bay shoreline and represents one of the largest remaining opportunities to expand public access to nature’s benefits. Working with a broad group of public and community partners, TPL and the EBRPD aim to secure a future where hundreds of thousands of residents can connect with the outdoors while restoring a vital Bay Area ecosystem.

Climate Benefits: Bay Area communities are on the front lines of a changing climate, experiencing flooding, sea level rise, and heatwaves in real time. The transformation at Golden Gate Fields would help protect surrounding communities through nature-based solutions by transforming a barren stretch of horse racing facilities and acres of parking lot into a public park with restored wetlands and climate-smart shoreline infrastructure that can shield nearby neighborhoods from disasters. Protecting and restoring the shoreline would also create vital habitat for wildlife and ultimately contribute to the kind of resilient coastline the Bay Area needs for the future.

Connectivity and Recreation: Golden Gate Fields is a missing link with the potential to create a contiguous stretch of over 500 acres of public open space and Bay shoreline. The project would link Albany Beach, the 8.5-mile McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, Albany Bulb, Cesar Chavez Park, and the Brooks Island Regional Preserve into one unbroken system of parks and open space accessible to all.

The Final Race is On: Before becoming a famous racetrack with sweeping Bay Area views, the site spent centuries as a wetland, served as a cattle transfer point in the 1850s, weathered two explosions as the site of a dynamite factory (1879–1892), and was commandeered by the Navy in WWII as a landing craft depot. Declining interest in horse racing, pressure from animal welfare activists, and the financial strain of the 2020 COVID shutdown ultimately led to its closure. Now, TPL, EBRPD, and partners are fundraising to acquire the storied property. If the deal crosses the finish line, transforming Golden Gate Fields into a public park would cap a remarkable history — and open an entirely new chapter for the Bay Area shoreline.

Protecting land and creating parks at this scale takes time and deep collaboration. TPL and partners are early in the process, raising the funds to make this ambitious project happen, and engaging community members and stakeholders across the region in supporting this essential missing link in an interconnected shoreline park system.

Additional updates on the project and opportunities for public engagement will be shared as the process moves forward.