A San Francisco environmental group has signed an agreement to purchase the former Golden Gate Fields and preserve it as open space and a panoramic new waterfront park, according to a report in The Mercury News.According to the report, the non-profit group The Trust for Public Land has signed a $175-million option to buy the 161-acre property from the Stronach Group. The deal is scheduled to close early next year, after which the trust said it will transfer the property to the East Bay Regional Park District, a public agency that operates 73 parks in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put nature and public access at the forefront, expand recreation and restore the waterfront so it is much more accessible,” Guillermo Rodriguez, California state director of the Trust for Public Land, told Mercury News' Paul Rogers. “The views are spectacular out there.”Allison Brooks, assistant general manager for the East Bay Regional Park District, said the organization plans to hold public meetings next year to gather ideas on restoring and renewing the property.“To have this stretch of incredible shoreline and restore it to its natural habitat and have ways for people to come engage with nature and the views, where they can go for a run or play soccer and rent a kayak or compatible uses like that is very exciting,” Brooks said. “It will become a new place where people can interact with the bay.”Golden Gate Fields, which was purchased by the Stronach Group in 1999, hosted horse racing from 1941 until 2024.The post Report: Environmental Group Signs Deal to Buy Golden Gate Fields appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.