Cactus Surf Park and Whitewater West have mutually agreed to terminate the lease for their project in Gilbert Arizona. The agreement took place without fanfare in May of this year but wasn’t circulated until the Gilbert Sun News ran a piece describing the dissolution.
With extensive coverage on newswires this week, it appeared that some outlets took glee in the announcement. The Gilbert Sun News said the project had “Belly Flopped,” and SURFER posted “$60 Million Arizona Wave Pool Wipes Out As Partner Kicks Out.”
Here’s what we know.
The proposed wave pool would have been at Gilbert Regional Park with both entities jointly involved. In a statement, the town of Gilbert said they were exploring a range of new options for the site and intend to seek community input before advancing any other future proposals, which may or may not include a surf park.
The Town of Gilbert previously leased a portion of their Regional Park to Whitewater West Industries, under which Whitewater would have designed, built, and operated a surf park entirely at its own cost.
“In May 2026, Gilbert and Whitewater West Industries mutually agreed to terminate the lease for the proposed surf park at Gilbert Regional Park,” Joanna Guzman, a town spokeswoman told the Gilbert Sun News.
WavePoolMag has followed the uneven progress of this project, which started seven years ago, as Strand Resorts. At the time, the developer had reached a deal with Gilbert to build a $60 million water park on town-owned land near Queen Creek and Higley roads. The 50-year lease called for annual rent of $284,841.
After delaying its planned 2020 opening to 2021, Strand was unable to secure financing and sold the project to ACA Arizona LLC in fall 2021. Renamed Cactus Surf Park, the project was given until 2022 to begin construction and was required to begin operations by April 2024.
Arizona is home to Rick Kane, the fictional wave pool champ who learns life lessons in the 1987 movie The North Shore. It is also home to the USA’s first public surf-accessible wave pool, Big Surf. Over the years, the state has appeared ready to add more surf parks, with projects making announcements over the years like Monsoon Surf Park, Surftown and Hidden Lake. PHX Surf appears to still be active.
Currently, the only operating wave pools in the state are Revel Surf in Mesa, Arizona and WaveSource test center, a proof-of-concept facility endorsed by Ben Gravy. No word at this time on plans for the land.
Whitewater West owns Endless Surf, the technology behind the Munich wave pool. The company has projects opening this year in Florida, Baja, Mexico and Brazil. Earlier this year they opened both Adrena and Surftopia in Saudi Arabia.
