Brooklyn firm plans indoor wave pool for Far Rockaway

Chasing waves year-round may soon be a reality in Far Rockaway, Queens.

Local Office Landscape and Urban Design, a Brooklyn design firm, is in the midst of early negotiations with the city over an indoor wave pool in the neighborhood, which is just a stone’s throw away from the beachfront that is New York City’s only legal surfing destination.

The firm’s founder Walter Meyer said the wave pool would cost around $30 million and bring free surfing and safety lessons to young residents of Far Rockaway, where the poverty rate is more than 20%. He said he’ll organize a fundraiser for the project, which would help teach swimming skills in a community where few can afford lessons.

“It’s going to be about ocean safety because the majority of the drownings in Rockaway are not visitors, they’re actually local residents and usually people of color,” said Meyer, who surfs and lives in the neighborhood. “We want to reduce drownings.”

Meyer is a professor at Stanford University. His firm has received an award from former President Barack Obama’s administration and advised states on climate resiliency plans.

Lou Harris, founder of the Black Surfing Association’s east coast chapter, said he and Meyer are in talks with the city over a specific property, but declined to name the site due to ongoing negotiations.

“It’s in the hood,” said Harris, who said the planned location was the size of a football field.

“Where it’s at, it’s not frequented by a lot of surfers and that’s why we want to put a lot of people in that area to see how desirable it is,” Harris said.

If the deal fails, Meyer says he’s eyeing a privately owned plot of land. The project’s details come less than a month after Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul launched an initiative to address equity gaps in swimming access.

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