South Carolina is getting a surf park. On 22 September 2026, Myrtle Beach City Council approved an incentive agreement for a 5.5-acre Wavegarden Cove at Broadway at the Beach, which would give the state its first man-made surf park.
For surfers in a state that depends on whatever swell the Atlantic sends, a machine that makes waves on a schedule changes the proposition entirely.
The wave
Of the 27 open surf lagoons in our directory, 12 run a Wavegarden Cove, including The Wave in Bristol, Lost Shore in Scotland and Atlantic Park in Virginia Beach.
Surfers ride on both sides of a central pier. A standard Cove has two reef zones, where intermediate and expert surfers get left and right-hand waves of up to 2 metres, and two bays, where the reformed waves are soft and slow enough to learn on. A first lesson and an advanced session can run at the same time: Wavegarden puts the bays of a standard Cove at up to 50 surfers in all, with 25 per bay, and the reefs at about 30 to 40 surfers an hour. It says it preprograms more than 50 different waves in its standard facilities, and at full tilt a Cove produces up to 1,000 waves an hour.
The partners' announcement called Myrtle Beach's lagoon a "large format" Cove without giving a module count, and that number shapes what it can do. Wavegarden's wave menu compares 46, 52 and 56-module machines, and the 56-module size offers the longest waves and greatest variety.
The rest of it
The lagoon anchors a $170 million development on 28 acres at the corner of the U.S. 17 Bypass and 21st Avenue North, on the vacant lot that once held the Palace Theatre. Alongside it: a 150-room hotel and other hospitality space, plus restaurants and bars, retail and sports tourism uses.
The location does a lot of work here. Broadway at the Beach ranks among the state's leading tourist destinations for shopping, dining and entertainment, with more than 13 million visitors a year, the Post and Courier reported in 2024, and attractions including Ripley's Aquarium and WonderWorks. A surfer visiting for a session lands in the middle of somewhere that already works, rather than a construction site with a lagoon in it.
The developer is WGMB, or WaveGarden Myrtle Beach, a partnership of Highgate, South Street Partners, Twin Point Capital and W.M. Jordan. Broadway at the Beach itself is owned by Burroughs & Chapin.
W.M. Jordan is an encouraging name on that list. It was the construction manager on Atlantic Park, the $350 million Virginia Beach development built around a Cove, with homes, shops and an entertainment venue alongside, so part of this team has delivered one on this coast already.
What the city agreed to
The city's share is capped at $20 million. At the first-reading vote on 8 September, assistant city manager Josh Kay said it would come either as a special source revenue credit, described by him as a long-term credit against the company's property taxes, or as a special source revenue bond if the company needed the funds up front.
None of that money moves until the developer has invested at least $125 million and the project is 80 percent built. The agreement also sets dates: construction must begin by 1 September 2027; the development must open by 1 July 2030. Once open, WGMB must keep it operating for at least five years or repay part of the city's investment. The stated target is March 2030.
In other words, the deal is written around a finished park rather than an announced one, which is a reasonable thing to want after a decade of plans for a Myrtle Beach surf park. The push started about 10 years ago with a site on Robert M. Grissom Parkway, stalled during Covid, and moved to this corner when American Surf Parks announced the new location in 2024.
Horry County's part
The city says its final funding structure depends in part on Horry County agreeing to add the site to a multi-county business park, and the county has started. On 20 October 2026, Horry County Council passed the first reading of Ordinance 102-2026 on its consent agenda, without discussion. The ordinance adds the Wavegarden site to a business park that Horry County runs jointly with Georgetown and Marion counties. It needs two more readings: a second reading with a public hearing on 17 November, then a third reading on 8 December.
Myrtle Beach has started its side too. On 27 October 2026, the city council voted unanimously on the first reading of its own amendment adding the site to the business park, and the second reading is on the agenda for its 10 November meeting. Assistant city manager Josh Kay said county approval would let the city cover its $20 million share with a special source revenue bond. WPDE reported that, under the amendment, the city would not need general obligation borrowing or money from its fund balance.
What it changes is where the site's tax money goes. Under the draft amendment, 70% of the revenue from fees in lieu of tax on the Wavegarden property would go to reimbursing or retiring debt used to finance the project's costs, money that is to be used to meet the city's funding commitments under its incentive agreement. The rest would be split: 9.66% to the city, 9.67% each to the Horry County School District and the county's general fund, and 0.5% each to Georgetown and Marion counties. The county's draft also says the city "has adopted or is anticipated to adopt" its own ordinance adding the site to the park.
Good to Know
March 2030 is a long way out, and opening dates in this industry move. The contractual deadline of July 2030 is the firmer of the two numbers.
The funding is not fully settled either: the county's ordinance has two readings to go, the last on 8 December, and the city's own amendment has its second reading on 10 November. And when Twin Point Capital, Highgate and South Street Partners announced the resort in November 2025, they said it remained subject to securing debt financing.
Construction does not have to start until September 2027, so there is nothing to book yet. For a sense of what a Cove session costs elsewhere, our price guide compares session prices at open parks.
If you want waves on this coast sooner, Atlantic Park is open now in Virginia Beach, and Jacksonville is targeting 2028. We track all of them in the directory and the opening tracker.
