Photo: Cannon Beach//City of McKinney
A Friday news release from the city of McKinney, Texas, announced the latest surf park development in the United States. The four-acre wave pool itself will be just one feature in a $200 million, 35-acre project that includes a resort-style hotel, dining and entertainment, and business spaces.
It’s currently being called “The Cannon Beach Project.” Cannon Beach recently opened its first wave pool in Arizona, Revel Surf, which calls itself the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of surf parks.
Construction is set to begin in 2025 with the wave pool opening first and other planned facilities then being built around it. According to a release from the developers, the resort-style hotel will be the project’s centerpiece with a rooftop pool and wedding and event spaces. The pool, interestingly, will be one of the “water-focused” attractions alongside cliff diving. Other entertainment and activity-based features will include a skatepark, bowling alley, health club, movie theater, and indoor recreation facilities.
“It provides a super cool amenity for our own residents and the opportunity to experience something that would be otherwise very, very expensive to experience,” McKinney Mayor George Fuller said.
Local officials are touting the new project as a way to build McKinney’s tourism economy. While the town itself is home to about 200,000 people, according to 2020 Census data, they expect the mixed-use facility to bring about 300,000 people a year to McKinney. They say it will support 700 local jobs and project about $2 billion coming into the local economy over the next 20 years.
“Anytime that you can bring world-class amenities that are unique to the area, and in this case, the entire state, it’s a draw from the region, not just McKinney, that will attract visitors, attendees to McKinney,” Fuller said.
