A surf park planned for Gilbert, Arizona has been through three developers and two names since 2019, and it has never broken ground. The latest attempt has ended too: in May 2026, the town and WhiteWater West Industries, the Canadian company behind Endless Surf, mutually agreed to terminate their lease. Local outlet Gilbert Sun News reported the split on 16 August 2026, and the town's own statement leaves the site's future open, including the possibility that it never gets a wave pool at all.
How it got here
The project started in 2019 on 25 acres at Gilbert Regional Park, the town's 272-acre, four-phase park near Queen Creek and Higley roads in the southeast part of town. The first developer, Strand Resorts, pitched a $60 million waterpark on a 50-year town lease, targeting a summer 2020 opening that slipped to summer 2021 and then to August 2022.
Strand was unable to cement financial backing. In fall 2021 it sold the project to ACA Arizona, LLC, which rebranded it Cactus Surf Park and agreed to Gilbert's new deadlines: construction starting by 2022, open for business by April 2024. Neither happened. A 2023 redesign that the town said uses 60 percent less water than before came amid a years-long drought in the Southwest. Another desert park handled water differently: DSRT Surf in California replaced neighboring golf turf with drought-tolerant landscaping to offset its lagoon.
WhiteWater West came in as the third partner, agreeing to design, build, and operate the facility at its own cost. In October 2025, town staff confirmed to research staff at AZBEX, the Arizona Builder's Exchange, that Cactus Surf Park would be on hold for the next five years. The formal end came in May 2026, when Gilbert and WhiteWater West mutually agreed to terminate the lease, according to town spokeswoman Joanna Guzman.
What the town is saying now
Gilbert's statement is short and noncommittal: "The Town is exploring a range of options for the site and intends to seek community input before advancing any future proposal." WhiteWater West had not yet issued a statement on its withdrawal when AZBEX reported the news on 19 August. The town is also under wider financial pressure: on 30 July it announced it was pausing the next phase of Gilbert Regional Park while it evaluates several major capital improvement projects, citing financial pressures outside its control, including recent state legislative changes that have reduced its available revenue.
That context matters. Revel Surf opened in neighboring Mesa in 2024, running a SwellMFG lagoon, and as of 11 October 2026 it is open and selling sessions, which shows a surf park can operate in the Phoenix market. Cactus stalled under each of its three developers: the first was unable to cement financial backing, the second never broke ground, and the third agreed with the town to end the lease.
Where this leaves things
Nothing was ever built on the site, and as of the town's August statement there was no fourth developer or new plan: it intends to seek community input before advancing any future proposal. We're not adding Cactus Surf Park to the directory. Seven years, two names, three developers, and zero shovels in the ground put it well outside the bar we use for a project earning a page.
