The Placer County Planning Commission unanimously approved plans for Alchemy Surf Resort on 24 September, clearing the way for a surf and hospitality resort in west Placer County, on the edge of Roseville. The county announced the decision the same day.
The project comes from Inland Surf Company and sits inside Placer One, Taylor Builders' 2,000-acre masterplanned community that the county entitled in 2019 with a full environmental impact report. That matters more than it sounds: the surrounding masterplan cleared its environmental review years ago.
What was approved
The county confirms a 5-acre surf lagoon and a standing wave pool. The developer puts the whole project at 25 acres. Between the two sets of materials, the program is substantial:
- A 100-room hotel, with a rooftop bar per the developer's own materials
- 22 bungalows, a figure that comes from the developer and Wavegarden rather than the county
- A surf center of 28,390 square feet
- An outdoor skate plaza and a children's playground
- Spas and cold plunges, plus beaches and activity areas
- An action sports hub with indoor skate facilities, climbing walls and trampolines
- Side shore hubs with retail, food and beverage, member services and gathering areas
"The project has gone through the county's planning and review process, and the approved plans provide a framework for the applicant to provide a unique recreational destination business to the community," said Placer County Planning Director Chris Pahule in the county's announcement.
Two waves on one site, which is still rare
The detail that makes this project stand out is the pairing. Inland Surf Company's materials name Wavegarden for the lagoon, describing it as a traveling-wave system, and Citywave for the deep-water standing wave. The developer's page and Wavegarden's own project update of 8 October 2026 both describe a 62-module Cove, which Wavegarden says is in pre-contract.
Running both a traveling wave and a standing wave on one site is uncommon. Of the 103 parks in our directory, five combine two different wave systems, and every one of those five pairs a different combination: ADRENA in Saudi Arabia runs Endless Surf with a FlowSurf standing wave, Waco Surf pairs PerfectSwell with its Shredmill standing wave, Revel Surf in Arizona runs SwellMFG alongside a deep-water River Wave, and Zion Shores in Utah is building PerfectSwell with two UNIT waves. Alchemy would be the only Wavegarden and Citywave combination we track.
The two machines do different jobs. A lagoon gives you the actual motion of surfing, a paddle and a takeoff and a wave that runs away from you. The developer's page describes the Citywave as a continuous standing wave that is "easy to learn, hard to master." Its own case for the pairing is partly commercial: it says the two technologies provide two revenue streams and "a compelling differentiation from other surf parks."
Northern California has been waiting
None of the open parks in our directory is in Northern California. The nearest open lagoon to Sacramento is Kelly Slater's Surf Ranch at Lemoore, a private facility down in the Central Valley, and the closest open Wavegarden Cove is DSRT Surf in Palm Desert, in Southern California.
Alchemy is not the only project trying to change that. Neptune Beach Surf Club in Alameda is working toward an Endless Surf lagoon in the Bay Area. Neither is built yet, so which one opens first in the northern half of the state is still an open question.
Good to Know
An approval is not a groundbreaking, and the dates here do not quite agree with each other. The county says Inland Surf Company's target for breaking ground is spring 2027. The developer's own project page says summer 2027, and adds that construction would take 18 to 24 months; Wavegarden's October update puts the groundbreaking in 2027, with 18 to 24 months of building after that. Take the later end of those and this is a 2029 opening rather than a 2028 one.
There is also the money. Neither the county's release nor the developer's own project page announces closed financing, and the project page is pitched partly at investors, with sections headed The Opportunity and Revenue Sources. Wavegarden's update describes the Cove as still in pre-contract. Entitlement is the milestone that makes a project financeable, so the sequence is normal, but a funded project and an approved one are different things.
One more thing if you go digging. The project architect's own page lists a 103-key hotel, 21 bungalow units and a 13,560-square-foot surf center, against the 100 rooms and 28,390 square feet that the county and Wavegarden's update give, and the 22 bungalows in the developer's and Wavegarden's materials. Architect pages often reflect an earlier scheme, and the newer sources agree with each other, so those are the numbers above. The third set exists, so expect to see it quoted.
We have moved Alchemy from announced to under development on our park page and recorded what the county confirmed. We will update it again when a groundbreaking date is set.
