A stretch of Bay Area shoreline near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is set for rebirth after a $40 million purchase.
Alameda and Contra Costa County’s East Bay Regional Park District bought 83 acres at Point Molate, a spit of land on the San Pablo Peninsula, for $40 million, the Mercury News reported. The Guidiville Rancheria tribe of California sold the property.
The sale to East Bay Parks marks the conclusion of more than two decades of questions around the future of the site.
The bayside site was once the location of a Navy fueling site and faced development as a casino; the construction of 1,450 luxury housing units was also proposed but faced pushback from conservationists.
The Park District plans to turn the land into its newest regional park as part of its “dual mission of preserving a rich heritage of natural and cultural resources in the East Bay, but then also providing equitable access to these open spaces,” East Bay Regional Park District general manager Sabrina Landreth told the Mercury News.
The 83-acre parcel bought by East Bay Parks is one of the last undeveloped and unprotected headlands in the Bay Area, boasting views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Tamalpais and the East Brother Light Station. Animals like osprey, coyotes and leopard sharks call the land and water nearby home, according to the Mercury News.
Congress first floated a reuse plan for the site in 1997 after it was decommissioned from its use as a Navy site. The Navy transferred control of the property to the city of Richmond to determine a path forward.
The Guidiville Rancheria of California proposed a $1.2 billion casino in 2004. Six years later, the casino proposal went to Richmond voters in a citywide advisory referendum and failed at the ballot box; the city council subsequently rejected the idea.
That prompted the tribe and developer to sue the city for $750 million in damages, but a federal court upheld the council’s decision in 2018. Part of that settlement required the city to sell the land to the Guidiville Rancheria for $400 if it couldn’t sell the property within four years.
In 2020, Winehaven Legacy looked to build 1,450 homes on a 270-acre portion of Point Molate. The Richmond City Council approved the plan that year, but public opposition put the kibosh on the proposal in 2022.
The city of Richmond transferred Point Molate to the Guidiville Rancheria for $400 in May 2022 with the stipulation to decide within five years how to utilize the land.