First surf park in Northern California planned for development near Roseville
It’s around 160 miles from the Sacramento area to the waves of the Pacific Ocean off of Santa Cruz, which is exactly the point behind a local surf park.
Surfing enthusiast Chris Gallardo hopes to offer the surfing experience near Roseville to hardcore surfers who don’t want to make the drive to the coast as well as novices of all ages.
“Surfing is only available to people on the coast, the problem we’re solving is we are making it available to everyone,” he said.
Gallardo’s surf park is slated for the more than 2,000 acre Placer One development in western Placer County, near Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln. Thedevelopment is also scheduled to house thousands of units of new housing and new campuses for Sacramento State University and Sierra College.
Gallardo said he has entered into an agreement with the officials of Taylor Builders, developers of Placer One, to acquire 20 acres for the construction of the surf park.
Clifton Taylor, president of Taylor Builders, confirmed the deal.
The planned surf park is scheduled to be built between the planned Placer Parkway and Foothills Boulevard in Placer One.
Placer One, former Placer Ranch, broke ground in late 2022 after Taylor Builders purchased the land for $100 million.
Taylor has graded the land and will be installing infrastructure for the project through 2024. It then plans to contract with various developers for the construction of housing and other parts of the project.
The surf park is the first announced commercial entity for the development.
Placer Ranch was originally planned more than two decades ago by Los Angeles developer Eli Broad, but the project stalled until Taylor Builders purchased the land with funding from New York private equity firm JEN Partners.
Gallardo said the surf park would include an artificial surf pool with waves, ranging from 1 foot for beginners to 6feet for experienced surfers; a hotel; a beach area; an indoor fitness center and a restaurant and bar.
Sacramento-area surf park needs funds
Gallardo still needs to raise approximately $100 million for the project, which he said would be called The Alchemy Surf Park.
“We’re very confident that we will be able to raise the capital we need,” he said. “We’ve started to build those relationships. We don’t have the money in the bank yet, but we’re working on it.”
Taylor said he was optimistic that Gallardo would raise the funds and expects that financing and regulatory approval will take between 12 and 24 months.
Neither Taylor nor Gallardo would disclose the agreed upon purchase price for the 20 acres.
Taylor said the location and the popularity of surfing will attract financing. He believes the surf park will complement the development of new campuses for Sacramento State College and Sierra College.
If all goes to schedule, the project could start construction in late 2024. While the project would need approval of Placer County officials, Gallardo said the land is already zoned to allow for the surf park.
There are only several artificial surf parks in the U.S.
The only one in California, Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Central California, is open only to professional surfers or people who are willing to pay more than $5,000 for a one-day VIP experience including two one-hour surf lessons .
Gallardo said the surf park industry is just getting off the ground. He said interest in surfing is being spurred by the introduction of the sport in the 2020 Olympics in Paris.
“It’s kind of similar to the ski park or the ski industry in its early days, when there were only just a couple of ski hills and now look at it today, it is quite a different animal,” he said.
This $250 million, 400-acre surf resort in California desert is on track for 2021 start
