PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — Surfing in the Greater Sacramento area? It could soon be possible with a new surf park that would occupy 20 acres in a master-planned community in Placer County.
Chris Gallardo, the founder and CEO of Inland Surf Company, is proposing a commercial destination anchored by surfing in the Placer One project.
For Alchemy Surf Park, he's envisioning a surf lagoon at the center with an 80-100 room hotel and a restaurant overlooking the lagoon. The lagoon would include a reception area, changing rooms/locker rooms and a surf academy. Gallardo says he's estimating the surf park would bring more than 100 jobs to the area.
"To be able to have an amenity like this without having to drive two hours to the ocean and get all the incredible benefits that surfing gives you, it's going to really change lives in the area," Gallardo said.
A later phase in the project could be what Gallardo describes as an Action Sports Hub, which could include a skate park and bicycle pump track, among other things.
This would all take place in the upper right corner of Placer One, which is a 2,200-acre project near the northern border of Roseville in the Sunset Area. The project used to be called Placer Ranch.
Once complete, the new master-planned community near Roseville will include thousands of new homes, a satellite campus for Sacramento State and Sierra College, along with retail and recreation.
Gallardo says he has the land under contract in the Placer One project.
“Destination-type retail is thriving and Alchemy Surf Park should be popular with the college-student population that will be coming to the Sacramento State Placer Center that’s also part of Placer One, and with the large number of families in South Placer. It’s a unique concept for Northern California and we’re excited to be bringing it to this area," Taylor Builders President, Clifton Taylor, said in a statement to ABC10.
Gallardo says when he started skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing none of them were in the Olympics, but now they've grown not only into Olympic sports, but a lifestyle.
"I think the coolest thing about the lagoons is that they knocked down so many barriers of entry. When you go into the ocean you have rocks and other animals, you know, that could get you, but it's often very challenging. And so I don't wanna say that the lagoon takes away all the challenges or all the risk because it doesn't, but it levels it out a bit," Gallardo said.
When could the surf park be completed?
Gallardo says it will take a little over a year for the entitlement process and then between 18-24 months to build... so in total about two and a half to three years.
"So you know, we hope to be ready to start breaking ground maybe late '24, very early '25, and then a little over a year to build it," Gallardo said.
But Gallardo says it could be sooner or later depending on how things progress.
He's preparing to submit the project application to the county and is in the process of preparing the market analysis and securing funding.
In terms of the design, Gallardo says he envisions a sort of quasi-public feel to the surf park where they would be a plaza-esque setting where people could walk around and enjoy some parts of the development. Getting into the surfing area and accessing the amenities would be a paid experience.
Watch more on ABC10: Placer Co. DA seeks letters of opposition to release of 'Sexually Violent Predator'
