Myrtle Beach Surf Park at Broadway at the Beach: What the $150 Million Wave Lagoon Means for Your Grand Strand Vacation

Twenty-first Avenue North has been waiting a long time for its next act. The Palace Theatre came down in 2017, and for most of the years since, the corner where the U.S. 17 Bypass meets Broadway at the Beach has been a place drivers pass on the way to somewhere else. The lake still glitters behind it. The Ferris wheel at Pavilion Park still turns in the evening. The lot itself just sat there, holding its breath.

On Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Myrtle Beach City Council gave that corner a reason to exhale. Council approved the first reading of an ordinance supporting a $150 million surf park and hospitality development on the old Palace Theatre site, backed by up to $20 million in city incentives. The plan calls for a man-made surf lagoon of nearly six acres, a hotel of at least 150 rooms, and roughly 20,000 square feet of restaurants, shops and tourism space.

Anyone who has followed Grand Strand news for a few years will raise an eyebrow here, and fairly so. Myrtle Beach has been promised a surf park before. This version comes with a new site, new money, a new structure for the public funding, and a target opening date of March 1, 2030. It also still has to clear a second vote.

Here is what council actually approved, how the deal is built, what else passed that night, and what it all means for a family planning a beach week on this coast, whether that week happens next month or the summer the waves finally switch on.

What City Council Approved on September 8

The headline item was the first reading of an ordinance for the surf park and hospitality project, with an incentive package capped at $20 million. News13 (WBTW) reported the approval the following morning. The Horry Independent and MyrtleBeachSC News both reported the vote as 6-1, with Councilwoman Jackie Hatley casting the lone no vote over concerns about putting public money toward a project on privately owned land.

Mayor Mark Kruea framed the package as a significant investment with the potential for strong returns. His central point, as reported by News13 and WPDE, was about risk: if the project never gets built, the city has no money on the line. He also described tourism as the lifeblood of the local economy, which in a city that runs on hotel stays and restaurant tickets is less a slogan than a line item.

Council also passed a resolution supporting the project and asking that it be included in an existing multi-county business park. In South Carolina, that designation is the legal vehicle that allows the kind of special source revenue credits and bonds the city is proposing to use.

Inside the Plan: Lagoon, Hotel and Shops

The site is the former Palace Theatre property at 21st Avenue North and the U.S. 17 Bypass, part of a roughly 28-acre tract on the Broadway at the Beach campus that the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission voted unanimously to rezone in January 2026. The Myrtle Beach Convention Center sits just across the way on Oak Street, which puts the surf park inside the densest tourism grid in the city.

The centerpiece is the lagoon. News13 described it as nearly six acres; the Horry Independent, WPDE and WavePoolMag put it at 5.5 acres. Earlier reporting in The Post and Courier described a lagoon holding about 7 million gallons of water, built to produce up to 1,000 waves an hour across a range from gentle one-foot rollers for beginners to seven-foot breaks for experienced surfers.

Around the water, the incentive agreement sets minimums rather than a finished site plan. The developer must deliver at least 20,000 square feet of food, beverage and retail space, additional hospitality space, and a hotel with no fewer than 150 rooms. Earlier concept descriptions of the project also mentioned surf cabins, pools, a lazy river and a beach area, but those details were not spelled out in the September ordinance coverage, so treat them as possibilities rather than promises.

The Project at a Glance

How the $20 Million Incentive Works

The structure of the money is the part of this story that separates it from the last surf park chapter. The city is not writing a check up front. According to reporting from the Horry Independent and MyrtleBeachSC News, the incentive would take the form of either a special source revenue credit, which reduces the project’s property tax bill over time, or a special source revenue bond. Either way, nothing is disbursed until construction reaches roughly 80% completion. By that point, the developers are expected to have put somewhere around $120 million to $125 million of their own capital into the ground.

The city’s case rests on a third-party economic impact study. That study projects roughly 364,000 visitors a year, about $50 million in on-site spending, around $12.5 million in additional spending off-site at local restaurants, shops and attractions, and annual tax revenue of about $3.2 million for Myrtle Beach, $2.6 million for Horry County and $9 million for the state.¹ City officials projected they would recover the $20 million in about six years.

Not everyone accepts those numbers at face value. MyrtleBeachSC News raised several questions worth knowing about: the company receiving the incentive had not been publicly named at first reading, the revenue projections may count tax credits in ways that overstate the benefit, clawback terms for underperformance had not been spelled out, and it remains unclear how much of the abated revenue would otherwise have reached Horry County Schools. Those are the kinds of details a second reading usually clarifies.

A Surf Park Ten Years in the Making

The idea of a Myrtle Beach wave park goes back roughly a decade, to an earlier concept along Robert M. Grissom Parkway that stalled during the pandemic. The version most locals remember arrived in 2022, when City Council voted 6-2 to sell 21.6 acres to developer American Surf Parks for $4.5 million, with the city keeping a buyback option. News13 covered the final approval of that project, then pegged at $80 million.

Financing proved harder than the renderings. By the fall of 2023 the developer’s leadership acknowledged difficulty lining up capital, and council granted a series of extensions in exchange for nonrefundable deposits of $150,000. In November 2024, the developer walked away from the original land deal and announced the park would move to Broadway at the Beach instead, with a hoped-for 2027 opening.

That 2027 date came and went on paper long before shovels could move. In January 2026 the Planning Commission approved rezoning for the 28-acre Broadway at the Beach site, and in September the incentive package reached council. MyrtleBeachSC News and WavePoolMag both identified the current development team as a joint venture of Twin Point Capital, Highgate and South Street Partners, working with Burroughs & Chapin, the longtime owner of Broadway at the Beach. The Horry Independent reported that the city referred to the effort as Project WGMB and that the company’s name would be made public at second reading.

Wavegarden and the Virginia Beach Comparison

The wave technology named in The Post and Courier‘s January 2026 coverage is Wavegarden, the Spanish company whose Cove system produces waves on a timed cycle across multiple skill zones. The earlier American Surf Parks plan also leaned on Wavegarden, according to WavePoolMag.

The closest real-world reference point sits about six hours up the coast. Atlantic Park in Virginia Beach opened on August 16, 2025, as the first Wavegarden Cove in the United States, tucked into the oceanfront’s ViBe Creative District between 18th and 20th Streets. Sessions there run from whitewater and knee-high beginner waves up through head-high and barreling waves for experts, and lessons are available at every level. That tiered approach is the model most likely to shape a Myrtle Beach version: a place where a ten-year-old can stand up for the first time in the morning and a competitive surfer can train in the afternoon.

The comparison also cuts the other way. MyrtleBeachSC News pointed out that Atlantic Park’s reported attendance, around 90,000 visitors, sits well below the 364,000 projected for Myrtle Beach, and suggested the two figures may be measured differently. It is a fair question for anyone reading the projections, and one the developer will likely be asked to answer as the project moves forward.

What It Means for Broadway at the Beach

Broadway at the Beach is already the busiest entertainment campus on the Grand Strand, and the surf park would plug into its north side. Walk the lake loop today and you pass Ripley’s Aquarium, with its sharks and penguins, the upside-down facade of WonderWorks, the rides at Pavilion Park, the twin putting courses at PopStroke, and the Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Center. Dinner options run from Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen on the water to Joe’s Crab Shack, Hard Rock Cafe, Wahlburgers and Dave & Buster’s.

The surf crowd has a foothold there already too. Ron Jon Surf Shop keeps a store at Broadway at the Beach, along with a second location at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach. A wave lagoon a short walk away would turn a souvenir stop into an outfitting stop.

For visitors, the practical takeaway is that the surf park is designed as an all-day, all-weather-season anchor rather than a one-hour attraction. A family could plausibly surf in the morning, eat lunch on the lake, and spend the afternoon at the aquarium without moving the car. For the city, the argument is that those same guests spill out to restaurants and attractions across the Grand Strand, which is where the projected $12.5 million in off-site spending comes from.

The Rest of the Agenda: Fire Station, Transit Hub and Golf Carts

A New Fire Station 1 and a Coast RTA Transit Center

Council also approved the first reading of an ordinance to annex and rezone four undeveloped parcels near Executive Avenue and Robert M. Grissom Parkway that currently fall under Horry County jurisdiction. The rezoning would let the city build a new Fire Station 1 to replace the current station on Mr. Joe White Avenue, along with a Coast RTA transit center and operations facility.

Some questions came up about road access to the planned emergency and transit sites. Kenneth May, the city’s planning and zoning director, told council that access details would become clearer once plans are submitted, and that the current intention is not to connect the transit facility to Mr. Joe White Avenue. Like the surf park, the annexation needs a second reading.

More Golf Cart Parking on the North End

The item most likely to affect vacationers this year is a change to the golf cart parking ordinance. Myrtle Beach has nearly 3,000 active golf cart permits but only a few hundred designated parking spaces along the north end. The amendment clears the way to designate more, including some at street ends, potentially pushing capacity past 500 spaces between 34th and 82nd Avenue North.

The trade-off is stricter placement. After residents raised traffic safety and congestion concerns, the amendment requires golf carts and other small vehicles to park only where signage specifically designates it. During public comment, a resident from 82nd Avenue asked the city to step up enforcement, describing carts parked within a few feet of a stop sign even though city code prohibits parking within 30 feet of one. Mayor Kruea said he would look into it. If you rent a cart for a Myrtle Beach trip, read the signs before you leave it at a street end.

What Happens Next

Both the surf park ordinance and the annexation must pass a second reading before they take effect. That second vote is also when, according to the Horry Independent, the company receiving the incentive is expected to be formally named. Beyond council, earlier reporting in The Post and Courier noted that progress depends on debt financing, entitlements, permits, third-party agreements and construction itself.

The target opening is March 1, 2030. That date is a planning milestone, not a ticket-sale date, and this project’s history is a good reason to hold it loosely. The difference this time is that the city’s money is tied to construction progress, so the public side of the deal only moves when the private side has already built most of the park.

Project details, dates and figures reflect reporting as of mid-September 2026 and may change as the ordinance moves through second reading. Confirm current status with the City of Myrtle Beach before planning around the surf park.

Where to Surf the Grand Strand While You Wait

The Atlantic has been making waves here for free the whole time, and the best of them arrive in the fall. Visit Myrtle Beach notes that autumn tends to bring the strongest swells for experienced surfers, while beginners can find manageable surf most of the year. The water stays warm well into October, and the crowds are gone.

In North Myrtle Beach, the summer surfing restrictions lifted after Labor Day. From mid-May through Labor Day, surfing and skimboarding between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. are limited to designated zones, including the stretch from Hog Inlet to 5th Avenue North in Cherry Grove Beach. Two rules hold all year: surfers must wear a leash, and nobody surfs within 300 feet of a pier, including Cherry Grove Pier. Our guide to beach rules after Labor Day and our North Myrtle Beach beach laws overview lay out the details city by city.

For boards, wax and advice, Village Surf Shoppe has been part of the local surf scene since 1969 and runs lessons and summer camps, while Surf City Surf Shop rents boards and posts live conditions online. First-timers can book instruction with outfits like Native Surf Lessons, which teaches year-round in the North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach areas, as well as Jack’s Surf Lessons and Kokopelli Surf Camp. Down in Myrtle Beach, Springmaid Pier is known for catching more swell than neighboring beaches, and Myrtle Beach State Park tends to offer gentler, less crowded water.

Surf Park Days, North Myrtle Beach Nights

When the lagoon does open, the smartest way to experience it may be from a home base a few miles up the road. Broadway at the Beach is an easy drive from North Myrtle Beach via U.S. 17, close enough for a day of waves and aquarium tanks, far enough to come home to a quieter stretch of sand where the loudest thing at night is the surf.

Each of the four North Myrtle Beach sections has its own personality. Cherry Grove has the pier, the marsh channels and the long, wide beach. Ocean Drive is the heart of shag dancing and Main Street nightlife. Crescent Beach is residential and relaxed, and Windy Hill sits closest to Myrtle Beach at the south end of town. Whether your group wants the space of oceanfront home rentals or the convenience of oceanfront condo rentals, the ocean is the view from the balcony every morning.

For the full list of what to fill the rest of the week with, from Broadway at the Beach to the piers, golf courses and festivals, start with our guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach.

Frequently Asked Questions

¹ Visitor, spending and revenue projections come from a third-party economic impact study cited by the City of Myrtle Beach, as reported by News13 (WBTW), WPDE, the Horry Independent and MyrtleBeachSC News in September 2026. News13 reported nearly 365,000 visitors and more than $3 million in annual city revenue; other outlets reported 364,000 visitors and $3.2 million. Projections are estimates, not guarantees.

Additional sources: The Post and Courier (January 2026), WavePoolMag, WFXB, Visit Myrtle Beach, American Surf Magazine and Broadway at the Beach.