Reviver Sport+Entertainment has floated the idea of building a surf park in northeast False Creek, next to Telus World of Science, by launching the website CitySurfPark.com.
Concept drawings show the site, complete with manufactured waves, a beach, a park (which nearby residents have been waiting for Concord Pacific to build for decades) and a redesigned walkway at Science World.
There is no formal proposal with Vancouver Park Board and it is unclear exactly what technologies the company would use to create the waves and cleanse the water.
Indeed, the company is billing the venture as something that has never been done before – “a world’s first in bringing surfing to an urban setting.”
The website says that Reviver is currently developing two sport properties:
•RippedLinks, which is a “golf meets action sports with a music festival vibe” competition event that that appeals to a younger audience; and,
•CitySurf, which delivers world-class waves and the surfing culture to a massive and untapped urban demographic.
“Much of our city waterfront invites participation on the water but for reasons including physical conditions, water temperature and pollution, it offers only limited immersive opportunities” said architect and Reviver CEO Philip Davis in a statement on the company’s website.
“Vancouver is an ocean city with an active outdoor water-oriented lifestyle, but due to geography it lacks open ocean surf. CitySurf changes all that. We’re proposing to create a world-class city amenity, in an underutilized waterway, while tackling a recognized environmental issue in a city that promotes itself as one of the greenest on the planet.”
Years ago, Vancouver architect and visionary Bing Thom first floated the idea of a beach in northeast False Creek when, in a 2011 interview with Business in Vancouver, he brought up the idea.
Reviver first tweeted about its proposal on August 6.
CitySurf Is bringing world class waves to the heart of downtown #vancouver! Join the… https://t.co/7dYdVXqwDb
— CitySurf Vancouver (@CitySurf_Van) August 6, 2016
