Kelly Slater set to open “private surf community” in Austin, Texas

(Slater) continued to amass land holdings that now total more than 190 acres...

I thought that dreams belonged to other men ’cause each time I got close they’d fall apart again. I feared my heart would beat in secrecy. I faced the nights alone. Oh, how could I have known, that all my life I only needed you? Oh almost paradise. We’re knockin’ on heaven’s door.

And, friends, it just so happens to be in hotter-than-hippo-tank Austin, Texas, that door.

But you certainly recall the NLand tank from many years ago. One of the first public surf pools to debut, and featuring Wavegarden technology, the facility harkened a bold, new world. The final realization of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 promise for American families to have a chicken in every pot and a wave-generating pond in every neighborhood.

Alas, I can’t really remember what happened, but it fell upon hard time and shuttered, only to be purchased by the Kelly Slater Wave Company and remained… shuttered.

Austonia, a favorite local website, opined three years ago that, “Austin’s surf park made a splash when it opened in 2016, astounding the city’s land-locked surf-lovers with new artificial wave technology. Two years after a company led by the world’s most famous surfer took over, an Austonia drone photo survey shows a desolate site where there once was a thriving attraction that brought surfers from both coasts, and beyond. Surf pools drained and empty, wave generating equipment apparently dismantled, parking lots empty, surf shop and pub closed. Mud, weeds, and only the sound of prairie wind, where once big waves broke to the sounds of joy from excited surfers.”

Well, I suppose the locals with much excess cash on hand can rejoice as the property is being turned into a private “surf-and-condominium community.”

Per the local NBC affiliate:

Over the last several months, details have trickled out regarding what’s being called Austin Surf Club. It’s a partnership between Arizona-based Discovery Land Co. and Kelly Slater — perhaps the most famous surfer in the world — and it’s located not too far from the airport along Navarro Creek Road off State Highway 71, about 15 miles from downtown Austin.

NLand closed for good in November 2018, and companies tied to Slater subsequently purchased the site in southeastern Travis County. Slater had been working to turn the project into a world-class surf destination, similar to a Surf Ranch community operated by his company in Lemoore, California. But the project appeared to be in limbo since then — even as he continued to amass land holdings that now total more than 190 acres, according to Travis County property records.

Are you titillated? Tempted to hop on a waiting list?

While we’re in Austin, did you watch Trump and Rogan’s three hour chat last eve?

Thoughts?