The upcoming Sweetwater Park at the Chula Vista Bayfront

Sweetwater Park will be the first park space completed as part of the Chula Vista Bayfront redevelopment. The 21-acre park was designed with community input and will be enjoyed by residents and visitors for decades.

The park is being built near E Street and Bay Boulevard, just north of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center. It is being constructed as a natural-habitat-oriented recreational open space to showcase San Diego Bay’s unique natural wildlife assets and encourage passive recreation activities that complement the adjacent Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. The park will offer a range of features aimed at enhancing the visitor experience, including:

• Meadows and specialty gardens with native plants, shrubs, and groundcover – some of these native plants serve as ecological buffers and mitigation areas to protect sensitive wildlife habitats, particularly at the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
• Mounded grasslands
• Nature playgrounds
• Various seating and picnic areas
• Pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths, some paved and others with softer surfaces
• Sand dunes
• Overlooks for bayfront viewing
• Incorporation of Kumeyaay signage
• Public art, including an installation by local artist Roberto Salas

These features are in addition to the Sweetwater Bicycle and Pedestrian Path that was built and opened in the spring of 2021. It will wind through Sweetwater Park.

Over half of the new park space planned for the Chula Vista Bayfront will be accounted for by Sweetwater Park and the future Harbor Park. Sweetwater Park will connect visitors and the bayfront’s ecology, offering environmental education opportunities and recreational exploration suitable for families and children.

Construction began in mid-2023, and completion is anticipated in 2024.