After years of waiting Richmond residents are finally getting a direct path to better enjoy seldom-seen parts of the bay. Last week, officials broke ground at Point Molate Beach Park on a 2.5-mile extension of the San Francisco Bay Trail. It’s one of many efforts to revitalize Point Molate for the public.
The trail project will create a pedestrian and bike path connecting the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to the historic Winehaven district, offering first-time public access to sweeping waterfront views and a direct link to the bridge’s pedestrian and bicycle path. Plans include a 600-foot boardwalk, interpretive panels on cultural and natural history, parking, restrooms and habitat restoration along the shoreline corridor.
“This project is particularly significant to our community because it’s a first step in providing access to a truly iconic future regional park here in Point Molate,” said Elizabeth Echols, East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) board director, at a press conference held at the beach park on Friday. “It’s not just about building a trail, it’s about creating opportunities for everyone to enjoy the beauty and history of this special place.”
The trail will follow the train tracks through the old Richmond Belt Railway corridor, which once delivered materials to Winehaven, a former wine shipment port and a Navy fuel depot on the San Pablo Peninsula. Along the route visitors can enjoy the cultural and natural history of the region, once a Richmond ferry stop and a former native coastal prairie inhabited by indigenous people thousands of years ago. The park district is also working with the Chinese historical society of America to provide educational opportunities and information about the Chinese Shrimp Camp that occupied the area.
Environmental protection efforts including expanding wetlands and planting vegetation and invasive plant removal are also a critical part of the trail project.
Benches will line the route for residents to take a break.
The trail project is a collaboration between the EBRPD, the city of Richmond and Chevron, with a combined budget of $13 million. Construction will cost $8.6 million.
The Coastal Conservancy provided a $2.6 million grant to the park district for the southern 1.25-mile segment of bay trail and gave a $1 million grant to Richmond for the northern 1.25-mile segment. The city of Richmond is expected to allocate $1 million to the project. Other funding sources include park district local measures CC, FF and WW, the California Natural Resources Board, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and California State Parks.
“It’s definitely a great example of how we do these jigsaw projects,” said Sabrina Landreth, general manager at the East Bay Regional Park District, at the press event.
Photo Courtesy of Richard Spiersch
The park district is leading the design, permitting and construction of the trail, which is expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027. The Point Molate trail is part of a larger regional goal to have a 500-mile loop along the Bay Area’s waterfront for pedestrians and cyclists. So far 350 noncontiguous miles have been built.
Lucien Sonder, a community engagement specialist for the National Park Service, which runs the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park, said the trail expansion is “wonderful” especially for Richmond.
“Rosie the Riveter has a section of Bay trail that goes right past the visitor center, so we’re always really interested in more connection, more access, especially with bikers and forms of alternative transportation,” Sonder told Richmondside. “It’s an awesome thing and I know it’s been a long time coming.”
Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez told groundbreaking attendees that he envisions Point Molate as a future cultural center, with public soccer fields or outdoor amphitheaters to host shows or cultural events. The city’s master plan aims to redevelop the 41-acre Winehaven Historic District, once known as the largest winery in the United States in 1908.
“Maybe eventually we’ll have a water taxi that goes from the Craneway up the coast all the way down to San Pablo Harbor,” Martinez said. “It’s going to be a beautiful place. And what we need to do now as we’re building the trail is to continue to dream of the possibilities that we as a community, as various organizations, can work together to realize.”
Najari Smith, executive director of Rich City Rides, said he is happy years of advocacy from organizations like his have finally led to a groundbreaking. Smith said the trail is particularly important because it helps connect all residents to some of Richmond’s most beautiful parks.
“We have some of the best parks in Richmond and definitely have more shoreline than any other city in the bay, hands down, so having all those connector points is ideal,” Smith told Richmondside. “People don’t know about this park because it’s hard to get to this park so accessibility is very important.”
Cyclists from all over the East Bay biked to Point Molate, including Smith and his team, to celebrate the groundbreaking.
Jen Mahoney, who is 80,, biked from Berkeley with her cycling group, Slow Spokes.
“I was here (at Point Molate Beach Park) every week during COVID and made paintings and drawings of this whole terrain here, and noticed that no one’s out here, and also noticed that it’s an under-visited resource, and it deserves a little TLC,” Mahoney told Richmondside.
She said the ride was “amazingly easy” but will only get better with the trail because it will allow cyclists and pedestrians to bypass some of the tougher hills they have to trek to get to Point Molate Beach Park.
She also noted that residents are lucky the area was never residentially or commercially developed.
However, there have been a number of development attempts that ultimately failed. Point Molate has been the subject of many proposed incarnations for years, including efforts to build housing there in 2022 and a casino in 2004. But in July of 2024 Richmond, the East Bay Regional Park District and the Guidiville Rancheria tribe agreed to transfer ownership of 81 acres of the property to the parks district to protect the environment and open it to the public.
The ownership change comes after a number of lawsuits from former developers against the city. The city is still litigating one of the most prominent cases: a breach-of-contract suit filed by SunCal affiliate Winehaven Legacy LLC, which claims the city unlawfully backed out of a 2022 development deal. In late 2024, a judge denied Richmond’s motion to dismiss the case, and SunCal is now seeking thousands of internal city communications as evidence, with hearings continuing this year, according to former Richmond Mayor Tom Butt. The lawsuit does not impact plans for the trail or park project.
The park project, which is separate from the trail project, is to build a public park at Point Molate Beach Park. In November of last year, the California State Coastal Conservancy board approved a $36 million grant for that project.
In the meantime, Point Molate Beach Park has benches, a porta potty and parking open to the public during the day.
After over 20 years of trying to make Point Molate accessible to all the people of the SF Bay Area and beyond, kudos goes to the initial organization that fought against the casino, Citizens for a Sustainble Point Molate. Kudos goes to all the people who fought against the condo development that would have privatized much of Point Molate, the Point Molate Alliance and Citizens for Eastshore Parks, and kudos also goes to the Richmond Shoreline Alliance. There were hundreds of volunteers who made this park happen, and I might add a big thank you to Nancy Skinner, former California State senator, for being able to get $36 million from the State towards the purchase of Point Molate. Congratulations to all involved in making this happen, and I am sorry if I missed anyone or any organization.