Point Molate was once part of an island, named Potrero San Pablo Island. It was created in a seismic event that also formed much of the Marin Peninsula. Together, they form a narrow place within the San Francisco Bay, a place where the East and West Bay come closest to one another. This narrow point backs up the water behind it, creating the shallower San Pablo Bay.

San Pablo Island is oriented 90 degrees to tides and ocean currents flowing in from the Golden Gate. As one of the few places in the Bay where deep water meets the land, the west side of Potrero Island makes an excellent natural deep water harbor.

Currents formed eddies behind the island, depositing soils on the east side to create extensive (and at one time navigable) marshlands. The island was both rich and diverse, offering access to deep cold water and shallow brackish water. The size and number of shell mounds on the island, despite the scarcity of freshwater, indicate one of the highest pre-Columbian population densities in the entire Bay area.

Native Americans burned the island to maintain coastal prairies, with woody species in the drainages and perhaps the East side. The Spanish named the island after these grasslands—Portrero means "good grazing land".

Throughout time, Point Molate has been a jumping off point for exchange with Marin, the bay, and the world. It has been used repeatedly for shipping—in recent history by Chinese shrimpers, the Winehaven winery, the Santa Fe Railway, and the US Navy. It is also one of the best access points in the bay for intercepting the seasonal migration of salmon.

Indigenous people understood and worked to extend and maintain the diverse connections that support healthy communities—between land and water, among species, and between humans and nature. In more recent history, the connections between the communities and the bay were in many instances severed or compromised. Point Molate, with its obvious qualities as a jumping off place, is in a good position to once again play a role in building new restorative connections between people and the bay. Developed appropriately, it opens up new possibilities for exchange between the east and west sides of the bay, and especially for developing new economic and social roles for the City of Richmond and the Guidiville tribe.

Until landfilling connected the now Point San Pablo Peninsula to the East Bay shoreline, the Site was part of the Potrero San Pablo Island. As an island in the Bay adjacent to the deep-water Sacramento River channel, the property was used by numerous Native American tribes from around the Bay for fishing, trading, and cultural exchange.

Shortly thereafter, the City of Richmond (the City) commissioned a 45-person citizen’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee to develop the Base Reuse Plan. The Navy then completed an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the eventual transfer of the property. The City’s Base Reuse Plan called for development of commercial and residential uses within the approximately 85-acre footprint of already developed property, balanced with protection of the shoreline and existing open space, and rehabilitation of the Winehaven Historical District. The Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee also identified lofty economic development goals for the Site:

• Generate employment and job training for Richmond residents
• Generate revenues for use in other parts of the City
• Serve as a regional destination to bring in tourism-generated dollars to accomplish these goals

In 2003, the City issued a nationwide Request for Qualifications to development companies who had the capabilities to refine, finance and implement the goals of the Base Reuse Plan. After an open solicitation and selection process, Upstream Point Molate LLC was selected as the City’s partner. During the 10-month design and negotiation process that followed Upstream’s selection, Upstream presented the idea of a partnership with a federally recognized landless Native American tribe, the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians as a possible strategy to accelerate and attain the diverse and financially challenging goals set by the City.

At the end of a 10-month negotiation process, Upstream, Guidiville, and the City agreed on a Land Disposition Agreement (LDA), and Municipal Services Agreement (MSA) under which the City would sell the property to Upstream/Guidiville for $50 million, and upon opening of the project, receive upwards of $20 million per year annually for 20 years. The agreements also call for 40 percent local hiring of Richmond residents under first source and living wage agreements.