Tidelands – Alameda Point Environmental Report

City may shift its approach to economic development at Alameda Point

After years of the current city policy not producing the desired pace of building new infrastructure at Alameda Point, the city may change its focus from leasing to selling property.

On January 20, 2026, the City Council will hold a public workshop to discuss plans to boost property sales at Alameda Point that will, in turn, fund new infrastructure in the Adaptive Reuse Area. So far, there have been only five buildings sold in this area generating approximately $31 million, which has already been spent on upgrading some street infrastructure. Meanwhile, the total cost for new infrastructure — streets, utilities, parks, levees, stormwater basins — for all of Alameda Point has jumped from $700 million in 2020 to $840 million in 2025, according to the workshop staff report.

Alameda Point tidelands revenue under scrutiny

Has the City of Alameda been spending lease revenue it receives from property it owns in the tidelands area of Alameda Point for purposes not authorized by state law?

That’s a question local and state authorities now are looking into.

With all the talk over the past year about economic development and the right mix of leasing and selling property at Alameda Point, City staff and the State Lands Commission, which owns and oversees tideland properties, now find themselves reviewing the books for revenues received from tideland properties, also known as Public Trust Land, at Alameda Point.

Tidelands designation frustrates development of Alameda Point

Assemblymember Mia Bonta may again need to be called upon to fix a problem land use designation in Alameda.

There is a major strip of land, dubbed the Central Corridor, through the center of Alameda Point that is designated state “tidelands,” even though the open water tidelands were filled in by the Navy 80 years ago. According to the California State Lands Commission, tidelands are to be held in trust for the people of the entire state, allowing only maritime, resource protection, or visitor serving uses. “Uses that do not accommodate, promote, foster or enhance the statewide public’s need for essential commercial services or their enjoyment of tidelands are not appropriate uses for public trust lands,” states this Overview of Public Trust Doctrine.

Currently, City Hall West, two blocks of lawn, a fire station, a hangar, some buildings of limited value, a parking lot, and an empty block of tarmac occupy the “tidelands” corridor and serve no Tidelands purposes.