Big Pineapple buyers hope to add juice to Sunshine Coast tourism market

Last week it was the Big Prawn, now the Big Pineapple has found new owners.

Receivers sold the Sunshine Coast icon along with 165 hectares of orchards on 15 titles to a pineapple-friendly consortium called Big Pineapple Corp Pty for $5.8 million. The buyer has plans to revamp the Pineapple and its surrounds and restore its status as a major tourist draw.

“While plans are obviously still in their infancy, our vision for this area - one headlined by one of the country’s best-known tourist attractions, albeit one which has laid dormant and closed for over 12 months – is to rejuvenate the Pineapple itself and the gardens and orchards, and to create a Queensland produce-driven market hub and business centre,” says Damon Falcongreen, project partner of Big Pineapple Pty Ld.

The giant piece of fruit was built on the coast side of the Bruce Highway at Nambour on a 23-hectare pineapple farm. Queensland Minister for Labour and Tourism John Herbert officially opened the pineapple on August 15, 1971.

It burnt down in September 1978 following an attempted burglary, but Queenslanders were so attached to their pineapple that it was rebuilt and reopened less than three months later.

It has had numerous owners in its 40-year history, including Queensland Press Ltd, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

But in the 21st century giant pieces of plastic fruit no longer held the sway they once did, and in 2009 receivers PPB took over the pineapple.

The property features more than 10,000 square metres of buildings, including the main restaurant and store equipped with kitchens and cold storage facilities, as well as hydroponics structures, a chocolate factory, and macadamia factory, together with extensive established macadamia avocado and citrus. All of these require would require extensive work to be restored to working order.

“The Big Pineapple is a big part of the Sunshine Coast family and we are keen to engage ideas and suggestions from our local community. We have been privileged to realise this purchase and understand the heritage, cultural and social value in the property,” Falcongreen says.