Golden Gate Fields Is Headed Toward Parkland. Here Is What Comes Next for the Old Racetrack

The former Golden Gate Fields racetrack on the Albany-Berkeley shoreline is moving closer to becoming public parkland, and local officials are already trading ideas about what should replace the grandstands.

Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii, Albany Mayor Peggy McQuaid, state Sen. Jesse Arreguín and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks toured the 160-acre property on Monday, KQED reported. The track held its last race in June 2024, ending 83 years of horse racing there and the last thoroughbred track in the Bay Area.

How the deal works

The nonprofit Trust for Public Land plans to buy the site from the Stronach Group for $175 million and hand it to the East Bay Regional Park District. According to KQED, nearly three-fourths of the money comes from Proposition 4, the state climate bond voters approved in 2024. The park district has pledged $20 million, and the trust is working to raise the last $30 million from donors and other public sources, the Albany Scanner reported.

Several votes still stand in the way. The park district board is expected to take up the purchase agreement on Oct. 20. The state Wildlife Conservation Board and the State Coastal Conservancy are scheduled to vote on their shares in November and December. After that, the trust has until Dec. 15 to exercise its option to buy, according to the trust's state director, Guillermo Rodriguez.

Under the option agreement, the existing structures will be torn down and the site cleared as part of the sale, Arreguín said in a September announcement cited by the Albany Scanner.

Ideas on the table

Nothing has been decided about the final design. More than 100 people attended a late-September town hall at the Albany Community Center, where suggestions ranged from open space to paid parking and EV charging as revenue sources, the Berkeley Scanner reported. Park district general manager Max Korten said the district hopes to open amenities in phases, possibly starting with more parking at Albany Beach.

Ishii said she would like to see restored shoreline and sports fields. Arreguín floated a museum or education center about the wetlands that existed before the track was built. Wicks said housing is not entirely off the table, but because of the site's zoning, Albany voters would have to approve any residential development, and building the needed infrastructure would be costly.

Residents can follow the process through the park district's Future Golden Gate Fields Park page and the City of Albany's transition updates.