Mesa Surf Lagoon Swims in Wave of Stalled Water Parks

Article originally posted on HERE on March 27, 2023

The waves of the 37-acre, $280 million Cannon Beach retail and entertainment complex anchored by a surfing lagoon in southeast Mesa are taking longer to reach the shore than expected.

That’s creating suspense for city leaders eager to see it open and draw visitors to Mesa, and for families interested in new entertainment options in southeast Mesa

The Cannon Beach project broke ground two years ago, in March 2021, and since then developers have pushed the estimated opening date back multiple times. 

In spring 2022, representatives said the 1.9-acre wave lagoon anchoring the development, called Revel Surf Park, would open at the end of the summer. 

That was later pushed to spring of 2023, and now developer Cole Cannon told the Tribune they are aiming for a “soft opening” at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Cannon said that one of the reasons for the delay is the complexity of the project.

“The laws of hydrodynamics are very complicated,” he said, adding that currently there are few parks in the U.S. offering artificial surfing waves.

“We made a conscious decision internally that when we opened up, it was operationally very smooth,” Cannon said.

He added that supply chain issues earlier in construction also caused delays.

Cannon Beach is just one of several highly anticipated water-centered projects in the Valley that have faced delays in the post-pandemic era.

The 60-acre Crystal Lagoon Resort in Glendale was originally slated to open in time for the Super Bowl but was later pushed to spring of 2023 and now, under new ownership and a name change, is predicting a 2024 opening.

In Gilbert, the 25-acre Cactus Surf Park was originally planned to open in 2020 on town-owned land near Queen Creek and Higley roads, but its owners have repeatedly pushed back the project due to issues with financing and now getting design updates approved.

The latest estimated opening date for the Gilbert surf park, in spring 2024, appears unlikely as the current owner is still in the town’s design review process, and construction is estimated to take two years.

In Mesa last week at the Cannon Beach site at Warner and Power Roads, although workers were active, visitors at the property line could see dirt covering large expanses of the site.

Cannon said builders are focusing on getting the surf features at the heart of the project in place. Social media posts show progress on concrete structures for the wave mechanism in the surf lagoon.

He said workers have recently completed installation of a stationary wave feature made by a German company that will complement the 1.6-acre wave pool.

Retail buildings lining Power Road have gone vertical, and Cannon Beach real estate broker Marti Weinstein said tenants would be taking possession of the “gray shell” buildings in 30 to 90 days to begin customizing them.

The shops, she said, are expected to open around the same time as Revel Surf Park, as the surf lagoon and associated water attractions are called.

Cannon Beach bills itself as a beach-flavored commercial and retail center anchored by the surf attraction along with other on-site attractions.

The complex is intended to cater to both water sports enthusiasts and those who just want to soak up beach vibes near the water at places like Moku Hawaiian Grill and Two Hands Corn Dogs, two of the tenants lined up.

Eventually, a 115-room hotel, gym, multiple restaurants and other amenities are planned to surround Revel Surf Park. The developers announced late last year that “indoor action sports center” KTR is also leasing space.

The developers plan for the wave pool anchoring the park to accommodate 20 to 30 surfers at a time with curling waves giving 10 to 12 second rides.

Cannon, a native of Utah and resident of Gilbert, said another planned attraction is a cliff-diving platform with options to plunge 26 feet, 17 feet, 12 feet and 6 feet.

“I love jumping off of high things,” said Cannon, a water sports enthusiast with homes in San Diego and Costa Rica. “I just love that idea of challenging kids to push the boundaries.”

For Cannon, water sports “create a lot of positive energy and positive health.”

“I just felt like Arizona would be the perfect state on Earth if it had an ocean,” he said.

Documents submitted to the city during the approval process for Cannon Beach do not contain a lot of details on the project’s water use.

A project narrative states the project will “incorporate technology to limit water consumption to below what would be expected for a nine-hole golf course.”

According to data collected by Arizona State University for the Arizona Water Atlas, the average Phoenix-area golf course used 28 acre-feet of water per hole annually in 2006, or about 252 AF for nine holes.

That comes out to the same water consumption as about 756 single-family homes in the Valley, or 82 million gallons per year, according to estimates from the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Some new water parks in Arizona argue they use water more efficiently than other industries. VAI Resorts says its 6-acre beach lagoon in Glendale will use half the water of the farmland it is replacing.

The delayed opening of Cannon Beach also creates suspense around its novel wave generating technology.

Swell Manufacturing, a Phoenix-based start-up, is engineering the artificial waves for Revel Park, and this is the company’s first deployment of its system.

Swell’s website says its technology is capable of producing barrel waves of customizable size and character.

Wave industry publication Raised Water Research noted in a post about Swell that the system potentially offers many advantages, but is “unproven outside small scale physical models.”

Last summer, Revel Surf Park released videos of surfers riding well-formed barrel waves amid what looked like an active construction site.

One underwater hazard that lurks for Cannon Beach as it rides to completion are economic headwinds facing many projects. Interest rates are up meaning borrowing costs are higher and capital can be harder to come by.

“Global financial markets are always a concern,” Cannon said. “I’ll just say so far, so good. We’re feeling very good with our financial partners.”