One of the most popular exhibits housed by the Albuquerque Biopark may soon see the construction of a new and modern holding facility.
The city-owned facility’s Shark Tank houses nearly two dozen large fish, including sand tigers, sandbar sharks, nurse sharks, and zebra sharks.
Now plans are underway for the construction of a roughly 7,000 square foot building that will serve as an aquatics/shark quarantine facility.
Biopark officials have identified three potential sites for the new facility and is in the process of hiring an architectural service that will provide site selection guidance as well as completing and submitting a utility study and traffic study for the new proposed facility.
The architectural service is also being tasked with providing a schematic design for the quarantine facility, as well as a construction estimate.
The Biopark has received national notice for its Shark Reef Café which allows patrons to dine while enjoying the views of a 285,000-gallon shark tank.
A timeframe for when the new shark quarantine facility will be built has not yet been announced.
When the $22 million aquarium was opened in 1996, it was noted that the shark tank’s 14 foot high and 48 foot long curved glass was the largest of its kind in the country.
By Garry Boulard
