$595M surfing center and village with 800 homes, thousands of jobs may come to Fort Pierce
Joshua Solomon
Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE - The nation's largest "WaveGarden," a simulated surfing park, is slated to come to Midway Road as a part of a 200-acre community development.

It is to feature 800 residential homes, 600 hotel rooms, 400,000 square-feet of retail space, 125,000 of office space and thousands of potential jobs.

The new "Willow Lakes" village is expected to cost $595 million in new construction, according to the developers, and the first phase of building could begin in the third quarter of 2021, depending on permitting and approvals.

The first phase, to run $40 million, would feature the WaveGarden and food and beverage facilities. It may also include a 150-room hotel, according to the project manager. The surfing center itself, "Surfworks Resorts" is expected to create 139 jobs and $15.6 million economic impact annually, according to a study by the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.

The project is expected to create about 3,400 jobs during construction and nearly 1,900 jobs annually, according to the Economic Development Council.

City commissioners unanimously approved a first set of sweeping zoning changes to begin to clear the way for the Willow Lakes development, which is near Interstate 95.

"This is probably one of the biggest things that could happen to us," Commissioner Thomas Perona said.

The developers have owned the land at 10050 West Midway Road since 2004. They were looking for a "destination" project, but were slowed down by the Great Recession. They found something they liked with the WaveGarden, Willow Lakes Manager Chad Labonte said.

"The last thing we wanted to do was another golf course community," Labonte said. "This is a game changer."

There are a handful of WaveGardens around the world, but dozens in the development stage, Labonte said. This would be the largest. A similar Surfworks Resorts is planned in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The facility features a massive swimming pool-like area that creates up to 1,000 waves an hour and around 100 surfers at any moment, according to a promotional video the developers showed. Waves are of varying shapes and for a range of expertise.

"It will attract people from Fort Pierce, across the country and around the world," W. Lee Dobbins, attorney for the Fort Pierce firm Dean, Mead, Minton, Zwemer, said.

The bold proposition is expected to generate $8.7 million in impact fees, not including the WaveGarden itself and a proposed TopGolf, according to city documents.

Willow Lakes is designed to be its own community.

Projects range on the number of homes that will be built, which is in part dependent on how dense the city allows for the developer to build. City documents submitted by the developer suggest up to 1,000 residential buildings, 700 of them are to be multi-family homes, 150 single-family townhouses and 150 single-family detached homes.

The project has gone through traffic studies, engineering reviews and environmental concerns.

"It's really planned as a whole new coastal community, which is several miles away from the coast," Dobbins said. "It's planned around a WaveGarden."

Commissioners offered glowing endorsements of the plan, excited for a developer building a unique project in Fort Pierce.

Backing the project was Pete Tesch, president of the St. Lucie County Economic Development Council. He suggested it would be a big economic boon for the local economy.

"Willow Lakes and the surf park project in our view is a catalytic economic development event which has the ability to 'move the needle' on our collective efforts to enhance Fort Pierce's reputation as a premier tourist destination and further diversify our growing economy," Tesch wrote in an endorsement letter to the commission. "As we enter the 'new normal' and the post COVID-19 environment, this important project will have a historically significant impact on our community."


https://www.tcpalm.com/story/n...ort-pierce/5860088002/

So maybe I should go to Wales and visit the original? The location is convenient to I-95, at what is currently a quiet interchange. Near the St. Lucie Co. fairgrounds.

Edited: 09/22/2020 at 01:39 PM by ww

Maybe all the kiddos will go there instead of the state park?? My sister lives in Port St. Lucie a mile or so south of Midway. I''s getting to be crowded mess in that area as it is. This will worsen it, but at least Midway is being four-laned.

The original in Wales is in some rustic location. The big one outside of Bristol is a pretty big attraction, still low-key. The word is that the Bristol is a worthwhile setting for training.

Which version will this be; the "Cove" or, the "Lagoon"?

EDIT: The "visualization" images show a "Cove".

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Dora Hates You

Edited: 09/23/2020 at 05:19 AM by dingpatch

Good for Ft Pierce.. Last time I was down there it was a ghost town. Where's that promotional video at??

https://wavegarden.com

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Dora Hates You

Surfworks is based in Myrtle Beach and is working on projects there and the bigger one in Fort Pierce. Looks like people with real estate/surfing backgrounds. They chose Wavegarden's technology, which appears efficient and versatile for making waves that serve a whole variety of users.

Fort Pierce is coming back from the dead, but I once thought that if you wanted to make an alternative-history movie about how Castro's Cuba conquered Florida and made it Socialist, you could set it in central Fort Pierce. The new Publix north of town, convenient to the State Park, looks like a Whole Foods.

Edited: 09/25/2020 at 08:55 PM by ww

A quote from the article...""They could make it affordable so a lot of people can go there," Hughes said, "or they can turn it into some exclusive, elitist club that has a high admission, like a golf club." (like the Surf Ranch?)....Hmmm..I think there is enough $$$ in SFL CFL to warrant the 2nd scenario...hope not..may be a new biz opp to set up a nearby luxury car rental to help get the common man through the first of 6 gates.

The Myrtle Beach project will be a big attraction. They obviously want lots of summer people. The publicity for Fort Pierce isn't as clear and the layout around the wave pool looks different. They advertise the "newest and largest world-class surf park in the country." So maybe a bigger Wavegarden Cove than Myrtle Beach?

A few years ago, someone was going to build a resort in Orlando with an elaborate wave pool, though I don't think it was going to be usable for surfing. Didn't happen. Right now, Orlando's tourist economy looks like a big tragedy.

Some people got more money than Fort Knox. Us poor folk slummin in the ocean.

Heck if it's good enough for Sinbad, Blackbeard, Captain Crunch, and Ariel it's good enough for me.

Edited: 09/26/2020 at 11:20 AM by Greensleeves

Probably because they like it that way...

Fort Fierce!

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Dora Hates You

Seems the promo vid has changed, also there are 3 sizes of the Cove design , from Rad to Bad...looks like Ft. Fierce may get the smallest (bad)? so what you see may not be what you get...it's in the details...a slightly better 'Goon...no thanks...hoping I am very wrong

Edited: 10/01/2020 at 06:10 PM by SurferMic

"BRO.... IT'S LIKE TYPHOON LAGOON.... ON STEROIDS!!! "