Geothermal resource ripe for harnessing as buyers eye Prawn Park business

Surplus land and a prized geothermal heat resource are ripe for harnessing to take New Zealand’s only Prawn Park attraction in new directions, as buyers are sought for an iconic Taupō business.

 A geothermally heated theme park, thermal-boosted propagation of edible plants, or a business cluster fuelled by geothermal process heat are among future possibilities mooted for the Huka Prawn Park.

Since opening for business a few kilometres north of Taupō 35 years ago, Huka Prawn Park has established itself as one of the lakeside tourist mecca’s most popular visitor attractions.

Positioned straddling State Highway 1 beside the Waikato River, in the Wairakei Tourist Park, it is the world’s only geothermally heated prawn park, along with related visitor activities and Taupō’s only riverside restaurant.

The operation has long attracted families with activities such as behind-the-scenes prawn park tours, prawn and trout feeding, adventure trails, aqua bikes and pedal boats.

With the business now up for sale, Bayleys Taupō salesperson Gary Harwood says large tracts of undeveloped land and a unique, and largely untapped, geothermal resource offer new owners tremendous opportunities to expand and diversify.

“The opportunity is there to further develop the existing park as a unique family destination or to use the available geothermal resource and location to develop new opportunities,” Harwood said.

In particular, a new heating system making use of the site’s geothermal resource would open the way for unique future options, he said.

“It could be the creation of a new geothermally heated theme park, offering ‘heat experiences’, that are only limited by your imagination – or perhaps developing the infrastructure to host a cluster of businesses such as brewers, coffee roasters or honey producers utilising the low-carbon heat source.

“Alternatively, the new system could be used as a source of heating to support the propagation of high-end edible plants, other warm water aquaculture species or health products,” said Harwood.

Future projects could benefit from the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund, set up in 2020 to accelerate the decarbonisation of industrial process heat. The Government this year announced a $650 million expansion of the fund.

The buildings and business sustaining Huka Prawn Park, Karetoto Road, Taupō, are being marketed for sale as a going concern, priced as $2.9 million plus SAV plus GST (if any), through Bayleys Taupō.

More information on this unique opportunity is available here: https://www.bayleys.co.nz/2653243