Athens Scuba Park for sale?

[mike_s]

This might be old news... if it is sorry for a duplicate post.


But in the March Issue of Dive Training magazine in the back of the magazine classifieds under "FOR SALE" there is an Ad for Athens Scuba Park

FOR SALE
QUARRY IN TEXAS. Sunken wrecks, dive
shop, campground, shower & restrooms, RV
electrical hookups. 19.6 acres with 8 acre
spring-fed lake. Financing available.
903-675-5762. www.athensscubapark.com

Just FYI for the texas divers (and anyone who might want to buy it).

like I said... this might be old news... but first I've seen of it.

-mike

 

[texdiveguy]

Mike... this is 'old news' but thanks for reminding us---lol....if you have $1,000,000 give them a ring!

 

[mike_s]

a million bucks? wow... they are mighty proud of it. Does it have an onsite Ritz Carleton or something?

I've never been there,..... but isn't a million bucks a little overpriced for a hole in the ground that a rock company determines wasn't worth mining anymore?

 

[amascuba]

a million bucks? wow... they are mighty proud of it. Does it have an onsite Ritz Carleton or something?

I've never been there,..... but isn't a million bucks a little overpriced for a hole in the ground that a rock company determines wasn't worth mining anymore?

You have to look at the income that they bring in from letting divers dive there. It could probably be a $1,000,000 business. I've not been there myself. I've wanted to go, but just haven't made it that way.

 

[Crazyduck]

This site like many others have been for sale for quite sometime. However, getting someone with the brains, financing, and guts is a small group of folks. Last I heard it was going for about 1million- but that’s off the top of my head.

I enjoy diving at Athens so don’t get me wrong this is not a slam against the owner/staff.

It should be noted that Athens is NOT a Spring fed lake.
Athens Scuba Park was originally a quarry for Athens Brick. The site is were the dive shop sits is the site for the original oven to fire the bricks. For some reason unknown to me Athens Brick Company moved and now is outside of Mineral Wells, Texas. The bottom composition is that of gray clay. When fired they take on a light yellow appearance. At some point in its history the site was that of a railroad water station for boiler style steam trains. The structure can be seen near the railroad track in about 15 to 20ft of water. The railroad is style active and 2am can be a surprise.
Calvin the original owner bought the site and surrounding land and cleaned up the site. There are stories of pulling out countless tires, and something like 50 fridges.

The real issues here are the capital that has been spent on site. They have added a pool, hot tub, lots of firepots, covered benches, open showers to divers with shampoo and conditioner- free. Know don’t get me wrong one of the problems is the depth. Average depth can run from 15 to 28ft. I have found one spot that was 32ft but it was a patch. The other problem is the water quality. If you have dove the site you would understand.

Recently, they have looked into dredging parts of the lake and that might be a long term investment.

Interesting as it is- this site could be developed more but it would take some serious capital, long term planning, and water development plans. Also a lot of the folks in town no nothing of the business and people it brings into town. There have been weekend before where there would have to be in excess of 200 people at the site. Take into account entry fees and the fact that it is 5 blocks from town this is a lot of income derived from the scuba park.

Good luck to the staff…

Andrew

 

[mike_s]

how crowded is the typical saturday?


you can buy a dive op in south florida or the Keys for less than $1mil and you typically have divers all week long instead of just on the warm month saturdays.

I'm just curious.... I'm not going to buy it anyway. I'm holding onto my $1mil
as a downpayment on a Gulfstream V instead (now if I could only come up
with the other $45 million they want)

 

[amascuba]

how crowded is the typical saturday?


you can buy a dive op in south florida or the Keys for less than $1mil and you typically have divers all week long instead of just on the warm month saturdays.

I'm just curious.... I'm not going to buy it anyway. I'm holding onto my $1mil
as a downpayment on a Gulfstream V instead (now if I could only come up
with the other $45 million they want)

I tell you what mike. I have an offer you can't refuse! Take that million and lets buy a huge sail boat and we'll take our girlfriends and sail around the world and dive for the rest of our lives ... how does that sound?

 

[mike_s]

I tell you what mike. I have an offer you can't refuse! Take that million and lets buy a huge sail boat and we'll take our girlfriends and sail around the world and dive for the rest of our lives ... how does that sound?

sounds great to me!

except that I don't think my wife would like me taking my girlfriend instead of her. I could bring them both along, but that would just cause more issues.

 

[NadMat]

sounds great to me!

except that I don't think my wife would like me taking my girlfriend instead of her. I could bring them both along, but that would just cause more issues.

:lol:

 

[amascuba]

sounds great to me!

except that I don't think my wife would like me taking my girlfriend instead of her. I could bring them both along, but that would just cause more issues.

that's when you tell your wife that she is at sea and it's sink or swim. j/k