VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Construction crews are moving quickly to build Atlantic Park at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Just under a year ago, the project backed by Grammy Award winner and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams became official. Now, construction at the site is well underway.
Three tall cranes sit above the 12-acre site. You can clearly see what will become a 3,500-seat entertainment venue, parking garage and wave park.
To Virginia Beach residents like Justin Patchan, the construction seems to be moving quickly.
"They’ve been building it extremely fast. I was really surprised. It looks huge and I think it’s gonna be a great area to kind of hang around you know go to bars and visit," he said. "It's impressive."
Patchan, who has been surfing for five years, said he’ll likely avoid the crowds in the wave park but plans to visit the entertainment complex for other highlights.
"I think it might get a little packed in there, if it’s anything like the 1st Street Jetty, which is already packed enough, it might get a little crazy in there," he said after getting out of the water Wednesday.
Stakeholders in the project say the $335 million facility is on track to open in the spring of 2025 — a fact that has some lifelong Virginia Beach residents excited.
"It just seems like everything has accelerated finally. It just felt like it took a while to start and once they broke ground, it just feels like it’s going to be here sooner than we anticipate," said Tony Rivera.
Rivera, who runs Desert Rose Creatives, said the whole concept opens a lot of doors for not only visitors and residents but also business owners.
"As a local business owner, we specialize in working with a lot of creatives and the businesses that he's going to utilize in side of that place — restaurants, wave pools, other things are going to really highlight our local talent and a lot of us are slept on. There's a lot of talent here that needs exposure and Pharrell is doing some really cool stuff to highlight that."
Jordan Davis said he's not only excited for what the project will bring but also for what it means for the city’s growth with the help of Pharrell.
"You have the home prodigy coming back and just showing love to the city and actually trying to grow the city a lot more," he said.
The developers say the park will be home to the only man-made wave park in the world this close to the actual ocean.