Retail Roundup: Surf park plan with shop, eatery gets town approvals
The owners of the proposed Long Island Surf Park said they would operate it year-round. Credit: Long Island Surf Park LLC
Long Island Surf Park is moving closer to becoming a reality.
The proposed facility, which recently received some Town of Brookhaven approvals, would offer surfing, Boogie boarding and stand-up paddle boarding in a 52,000-square-foot wave pool in the Brookhaven Technology Center, an industrial park in Shirley, said Bay Shore resident, Brett Portera, 23, a partner in the project.
A wave pool is a swimming pool equipped with technology to create waves for surfing and other activities.
Planned for 91 Precision Dr., just off Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway, the surf park also would have a three-level, 7,000-square-foot clubhouse with a surf shop on the first floor and a restaurant on the second floor, Portera said.
The park, which also would have a surf school, would be geared toward users of all skill levels, he said.
“We’ll be able to push out waves for beginners all the way up to Olympic athletes,” he said.
The surf park would offer annual memberships and hourly rates, he said.
On June 17 the Town of Brookhaven Planning Board approved a site plan and special-use permit for the proposed surf park.
A building permit application will be submitted to the town this fall, said Portera, who added he expects construction to start in a year and take 12 to 16 months to complete.
Portera and his father, Chris Portera, 59, are business partners in the planned surf park, which has an estimated cost of about $10 million, including the price of the 3.49 acres of vacant land they purchased in the industrial park in February.
More than a third of the land would remain undeveloped after the surf park is built.
The Porteras are longtime surfers who decided to merge their passion with entrepreneurship, Brett Portera said.
“My plan is to eventually build [the business] into a chain or franchise it out across the country, but right now this will be the first one,” he said.
Brett Portera is pursuing a master's degree in business administration at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Chris Portera owns Ocean Janitorial Supply Inc., a 30-year-old business in Islip Terrace.
At Long Island Surf Park, outside vendors — solicited through request for proposals — would run the surf shop and restaurant, Brett Portera said.
Sharing the second floor with the restaurant would be a lounge with Ping-Pong tables, fireplaces, couches and TVs. There would also be an outdoor deck.
The surf park would be open year-round, with the wave pool heated during the winter months, Brett Portera said. People surf year-round outside, he pointed out.
“As long as there are waves, there’s people in the water surfing, no matter what the temperature is,” he said.
Retail Roundup is a column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that is published online and in the Monday paper. To read more of these columns, click here. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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