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Golden Gate Fields avoids redevelopment

Posted: Monday, January 23, 2012 8:14 PM

Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, California, avoided becoming the site of a University of California development project on Monday when the school announced it had selected another location on which to build a second campus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Golden Gate was one of six locations chosen as a finalist for the project, along with sites in Albany, Almeda, Emeryville, Oakland, and Richmond. The university received more than 20 responses when a Request for Qualifications was released in early 2011.

The school eventually landed on the Richmond Field Station, an off-site facility already owned by the university.

“Each city, community, and their developer partners presented extremely thoughtful and well-formulated proposals for us to consider, for which we are deeply grateful,” Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos said. “While we can only pick one site, we hope that the new relationships we’ve made will continue to help us foster excitement in science.”

The bid was pursued by the track’s ownership, The Stronach Group, which said it would find another site to race if the current location was chosen for the project. The track sits on 140 acres of property overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

The California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association issued the following statement on Monday following the announcement: “The CTHA looks forward to strengthening Northern California racing and welcomes this news that can pave the way for long-term strategic planning for the preservation and improvement of Thoroughbred racing in Northern California.”