The coastal city of El Segundo is an unlikely location for a huge new artificial surf park.
Other California surf parks with machine-powered wave pools are located inland, far from natural waves in places like Palm Springs and Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley.
This summer, the owner of one of those parks, Palm Springs Surf Club, purchased 10 acres of land on a former aerospace campus in El Segundo. The location is near a bonanza of sports businesses that have sprung up in recent years, including a Topgolf entertainment complex and the Los Angeles Chargers football team's headquarters and training facility.
A company linked to billionaire Vinny Smith's Toba Capital paid $54 million for the site, said Colin O'Byrne, president of Inland Pacific Cos., Toba Capital's development partner.
Smith, a technology mogul and surfer and major investor in the Palm Springs Surf Club, reportedly became involved after testing a prototype wave.
Surfers wait their turn at The Palm Springs Surf Club.
(David Fouts/For The Times)
The El Segundo surf park, which has not yet been named, will have about 5 million gallons of water in a 2.2-acre lagoon, O'Byrne said. He hopes to get city approval to begin work on the $175 million project in about six months.
El Segundo is already a legitimate surf town, known for its custom surfboard shapers and waves at El Segundo Beach Jetty.
“El Segundo has been a mecca of surf culture since the 1950s,” said Councilman and surfer Drew Boyles. “But frankly, the surf out front is consistently poor to fair and absolutely packed. So this wave pool is going to be amazing.”
Boyles compared the surf park's potential appeal to Topgolf, which emphasizes in its advertising on getting beginners comfortable swinging a club for fun while also attracting experienced golfers.
“Topgolf basically lowered the barriers to entry for people to get involved in the game of golf,” Boyles said. “Wave pools are doing the same thing: lowering the barrier to entry so people can surf in a controlled, safe environment that is not as intimidating as the ocean, but is predictable and consistent.”
Boyles, a real estate developer, is working on developing his own surf park in Phoenix.
O'Byrne, who has been learning to surf in Palm Springs, said the environment in a man-made lagoon can be more enjoyable than competing with other surfers in the sea.
“You have the ability to have your own wave, and everyone supports you to make your wave instead of being yelled at in the lineup as a beginner or intermediate level surfer.”
The Palm Springs Surf Club wave pool.
(David Fouts/For The Times)
In Newport Beach, the city is considering approval of the Snug Harbor Surf Park Project, which would redevelop the central portion of the Newport Beach golf course with approximately five acres of surfing lagoons. It would replace the driving range and reduce the course size to 15 holes.
The centerpiece of a typical surf park is a large pool containing millions of gallons of water and a machine that can generate up to 1,000 waves per hour. Developers also often add restaurants, shops and other attractions to broaden the park's appeal.
DSRT Surf, expected to open in summer 2026 at Desert Willow Golf Resort in the Coachella Valley, will offer pickleball courts, a pool, yoga classes, a restaurant and a skating rink. Future plans call for a 139-room hotel and 57 luxury villas.
Inland Pacific and Smith are also working on a 45-acre mixed-use development around a $275 million surf park in Oceanside, O'Byrne said. It will include shops and restaurants along with a hotel adjacent to a 2.5-acre lagoon.
In Las Vegas, the company acquired 66 acres of land on Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of the airport, for a surf-focused development.
Now that engineers have figured out how to create consistent waves in a controlled environment, there is potential demand for many more surf parks in the world, O'Byrne said.
“This has been tried since the 1980s,” OByrne said. “We're really at a point where technology has advanced to be able to do this more economically and allow for greater consistency and longer waves.”
Visitors watch surfers from the mainland at The Palm Springs Surf Club.
(David Fouts/For The Times)
Inland Pacific acquired the El Segundo site from Continental Corp., a California landlord with millions of square feet of commercial properties along the South Bay coast, real estate data provider CoStar said.
Continental purchased the 30-acre corporate campus from Raytheon in 2021 and launched plans to redevelop it into a 600,000-square-foot mixed-use complex with office, retail and media production space.
Los Angeles and Orange counties have the largest concentration of surfers in the world at more than 2 million, according to an estimate by Surf Lakes Socal, which is seeking investors to finance the development of more wave pools.
