THE MARTINEZ CITY COUNCIL pushed ahead with an ambitious plan to revitalize the city’s waterfront that could include multiple hotels, an amphitheater, a waterside restaurant, and ferry service.
The council voted unanimously to enter negotiations to strike an exclusive development agreement with San Diego-based development firm Tucker Sadler Architects.
The plan presented Wednesday night included at least three hotels, a large amphitheater with a bandshell, a waterside restaurant, retail stores, a boat storage facility, a boat launch, a small sand beach, a new seawall and boat docks, pickleball courts, pedestrian walkways, a parking structure, and room for ferry service. There could also be an indoor/outdoor swim facility.
The idea is to make the waterfront a regional draw with music festivals, fishing tournaments, boating, and sporting tournaments at nearby fields. The marina would connect nearby downtown with the waterfront into a destination rivaling others in the Bay Area like Sausalito.
“If we can draw people into Martinez by having a ferry system, it will be more successful to Martinez, to our waterfront, to our downtown, everything that is in the future of Martinez,” said
Greg Mueller, CEO and design principal of Tucker Sadler.
Tucker Sadler would be the developer, operator and long-term lease holder to the city, which holds the land in trust. Of the site’s 70 acres, Mueller said his company would only be developing about 22 acres — the area already developed or now covered by parking lots.
Councilmembers repeatedly told the crowd the process will be long and residents would have plenty of input along the way. The necessary approvals, plan-shaping, environmental reports, and construction itself would likely take at least five to seven years.
Councilmembers also talked about the project as a necessity, considering how much the city spends annually to literally keep the broken-down area afloat.
The city has for years discussed redeveloping fradthe shoreline area, which encompasses 70 acres in three parts: the marina, a portion of North Court Street, and the area near Martinez Yacht Club and the Eagle Marine vessel repair business, both of which would likely be combined and/or moved under the new proposal.
Constructed in the 1960s, the marina has exceeded its useful life, with facilities closing due to safety concerns and environmental factors such as sea level rise causing frequent flooding extending through the current parking lots.
The area has also been battered by storms in recent years, forcing the city to close sections of the fishing pier. The city assumed direct management of the marina in August 2024 after the previous operator’s contract ended and city officials decided the area needs rebuilding rather than repairs.
Since fiscal year 2021-22, the city has spent $1.7 million in general fund reserves to cover marina needs. The 2025-26 budget includes a $560,000 loan to help cover the marina’s operating shortfall, bringing the amount of loans the city has made covering marina expenses to $1.05 million by the end of this fiscal year.
The city said in a report it expects to loan the marina about $650,000 annually moving forward, contributing to expected budget deficits that could mean layoffs.
The city would also need to find money for the extensive infrastructure the new development would require.
“To do nothing is going to be devastating to the city,” said Councilmember Greg Young. “The trajectory that we’re going now is putting money into a marina that is not sustainable.”
Councilmember Satinder Malhi said the process will be long and Wednesday night was just the starting point, but an important one.
“We need to acknowledge that the status quo is simply not sustainable,” Malhi said. “I’m glad that we’re having this conversation now and not a few years from now, when we’re trying to scramble and trying to figure out ‘Oh my God, how are we going to avoid devastating service cuts that we are seeing other in other communities throughout the Bay Area and the state taking place now?’”
Dozens of public speakers came forward to support the project, though many expressed concerns about the current single entrance into the area over railroad tracks. When trains roll through or stop short of the nearby station, long delays could become problematic for first responders in an emergency.
Mueller said the entrance will be addressed through the process.
“If there’s a train and access is cut off and something happens, whether we’re having an event at the fields or down at the marina, and we can’t safely get there, that’s a crime,” Mueller said. “So we are going to find a way to have full access at all times to this waterfront so we don’t get cut off.”
At least one person suggested building a second ingress from the elevated part of Marina Vista Avenue near the sports fields to the east, a small bridge or ramp extending over the tracks with enough space underneath for trains to pass.
Councilmember Debbie McKillop, a fourth-generation resident of Martinez, said the massive project could be the most important thing that’s happened to Martinez since the Benicia-Martinez Bridge opened in 1962.
“This is something really amazing and it’s not just going to touch the city of Martinez, it’s going to touch the entire county and beyond and even the state,” McKillop said. “People will come here because this is going to be amazing.”