$35M surfing pool and social club project advances

A new surfing and social club venue will soon be making waves in Shirley. 

Crest Surf Clubs, a company headed by the father-and-son team of Chris and Brett Portera, plan to build a huge wave pool and social club on a 3.49-acre parcel of vacant land on Precision Drive. 

The long-planned $35 million project, which was originally to be developed as Long Island Surf Park, will now be called Crest New York. The project’s designer, Adrian Tobin, a co-founder and head of experience of Crest Surf Clubs, has designed wave-venue experiences around the world, including at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in northern California and Alaia Bay at the base of the Swiss Alps in Switzerland. 

Courtesy of Crest Surf Clubs

Crest New York will employ wave generation technology that creates custom waves ranging from beginner to pro-level abilities in the massive pool that will span about 1.2 acres. The complex, located in an industrial park off Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway, will also include a glass-enclosed restaurant overlooking the wave pool, a spa, surf coaching and concierge services, according to a company statement. 

Company principals will be announcing the start of the project at an event Friday evening on the rooftop of the Allegria Hotel in Long Beach. 

“We are thrilled that, after seven years, we now have our approvals, our expert team, and our first site ready to go” Chris Portera, co-CEO of Crest Surf Clubs, said in the statement. “We’ve traveled the world visiting wave venues and private clubs, hired the best designers and engineers, and put together a best-in-class team, and tonight we announce the fruit of our labor: Crest Surf Clubs will be the only combination social club/surfing venue in the world.” 

Construction on the new surf park/social club, which will be open year round, is expected to start by the end of the year or early in 2023, with completion scheduled for 2024. 

“We’ve done our market research, based in large part on our database of thousands of interested surfers in the tri-state area, and believe this business model is the right fit,” Brett Portera, co-CEO of Crest Surf Clubs, said in the statement. The younger Portera is an avid surfer and has been the driving force behind creating the surf club development. 

Founded in 2015, Crest Surf Clubs is a real estate development and operations company focused on the design, development, and operation of members only surf clubs around the world. Co-founder Chris Portera is also a principal of Islip Terrace-based Ocean Janitorial, a distributor of cleaning supplies.