A $200-million WaveGarden Is Coming To The California Desert

If you blinked you miss it.

That’s how fast things seem to be moving in the surf park space. One day it’s Parko getting barreled in Melbourne, the next day Josh Kerr and CJ Hobgood are slapping palms as their new endeavor in the California desert is getting unanimous approval from the Palm Desert City Council.

Located 76 miles southeast of Lower Trestles, the Desert Willow Golf Resort is now one step closer to developing a $200-million project that would include a 5.5-acre surf park powered by WaveGarden’s Cove tech…which, as you know, is all the rage at the moment with URBNSurf in Melbourne and The Wave in Bristol, U.K., utilizing the systems. The DSRT project is the brainchild of John Luff and Doug Shere, who partnered with Desert Wave Ventures LLC.

The hearing took two hours. Opponents were rightly concerned about water usage, but come on, it’s the California desert. The DSRT Surf’s lagoon would use an estimated 24 million gallons of water a year—much of that would be recycled or recaptured according to their plan. Besides, in California, money and development talk. 

“This is an economic game-changer,” Mayor Pro Tem Gina Nestande said.

The plan is forecast to create 400 jobs and pave the way for other retail and residential development in the area. There are reportedly two other projects planned for the Coachella Valley, including the largest, the Thermal Beach Club, which would include a 21-acre surf lagoon.

Oh, what a time to be alive!