The Lake takes shape in Chesterfield

The first wave of commercial tenants is coming to The Lake, a long-planned, 105-acre mixed-use development that’s slated to bring a surf park to western Chesterfield County.

The Lake’s centerpiece will be a 13-acre artificial lake with a tow cable. It’s expected to be ready by summer 2025 for wakeboarding, kayaking, standup paddle boarding and other activities. It’ll be followed by an adjoining 6-acre surf park, one of a handful of such facilities nationwide that can generate waves large enough to surf.

“The anchor for our overall development is entertainment,” says project developer Brett Burkhart, founder of Lake Adventures and Flatwater Ventures. “We wanted to have restaurants and an amphitheater, and around that have some cool activities like surfing and wakeboarding on the lake.”

Burkhart lined up $323 million in financing for the development. Construction began in 2022 and is expected to take around five years to complete. Construction costs have increased, he says, though he declines to give a revised estimate.

In January, construction began on three buildings at The Lake’s entrance off Genito Road near State Route 288. A Chipotle and a Starbucks with a drive-thru will be the first tenants. The development’s initial phase also includes three retail and restaurant buildings by the lake. A Kilwins candy and ice cream shop has leased space in one.

Work should be completed by this fall, Burkhart says.

The Lake is also slated to include 150,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, 100,000 square feet of office space, a 170-room hotel, an amphitheater, 830 apartments and 360 townhomes.

Chesterfield’s primary interest in the project is its commercial component, which is expected to help retain visitors to the county’s nearby River City Sportsplex who might otherwise head to Richmond for hotels, restaurants and shopping, says H. Garrett Hart III, the county’s economic development director. He also hopes The Lake will attract talent for businesses to Chesterfield.

Supervisors approved an agreement in 2022 to provide Lake Adventures with local tax rebates of up to 80% over the next 20 years for the development’s mixed-use and commercial portions. The funds will help defray the cost of building a parking deck instead of surface parking, leaving more space for commercial offerings.

“That’s the benefit of tourism, keeping those dollars in Chesterfield to be able to put back into our own infrastructure,” says J.C. Poma, Chesterfield’s executive director of sports, visitation and entertainment.