The Trump Administration is not the only one engaging in no-bid contracts on pools. The city continues its effort to have a certain developer, Neptune Beach Surf Club Development Partners, lease and build a surf pool on public parkland at Alameda Point. The price and terms under negotiation with Neptune will be discussed by the city council in closed session on July 7, 2026.
The agenda item caught the attention of another surf pool developer, SurfLoch, which has been expressing interest in purchasing commercial land at Alameda Point to build a surf pool and potentially a hotel since May 2025. City staff has, instead, steadfastly focused on leasing the parkland to Neptune.
parkland next to commercial property
As previously reported, city staff took Neptune’s leasing proposal to the Recreation and Parks Commission but did not mention SurfLoch’s land-purchase inquiry to locate the pool elsewhere. Everyone seemed under the impression that Neptune’s was a take-it or leave-it proposition. It is unknown whether city council had heard about SurfLoch’s purchase inquiry when the surf pool came before them in a closed session shortly thereafter.
We do know that this time city council is in the loop. On July 1, Thomas Lochtefeld, the CEO of SurfLoch, sent a letter to the council asking “why a project of this scale and public significance appears to be advancing through negotiations with a single, predetermined developer rather than through an open, competitive solicitation.” He noted that SurfLoch would welcome the opportunity to compete to build the surf pool on land it would purchase, not lease.
“Rather than the leasing of public parkland [a] purchase structure places the development risk on the buyer, generates sale proceeds the City could apply toward its substantial Alameda Point infrastructure obligations, and returns the parcel to the property tax rolls,” wrote Lochtefeld.
His letter points out that city policy “encourages a competitive public process in marketing, negotiating with, and selecting tenants. A negotiation conducted exclusively with one party appears difficult to reconcile with that stated preference, and a competitive process would allow the Council to test the terms now under negotiation against genuine market alternatives,” Lochtefelt wrote.
Lochtefeld requested that the city council direct staff to open a competitive solicitation for a surf pool or comparable visitor-serving use at Alameda Point, either on the park site or on commercial property suitable for sale. “Such a process would invite qualified developers, including SurfLoch, to submit competing proposals on transparent and equal terms, and would give the Council the benefit of comparison before any binding commitment is made,” he explained.
The city council will decide whether a no-bid contract will reflect well on our city.
Originally published in the Alameda Post
Surfloch’s letter, along with Neptune’s and response after this piece was written, are posted on the city’s website under the closed-session agenda item.
