If you happen to live in, near, or want to move to Lincoln, Kansas, you could be the proud owner of a decommissioned nuclear weapon facility that sits 18 stories underground. Admittedly, it looks ominous. All you see is a freestanding door in the middle of an 8.4-acre property.
The area is completely enclosed by barbed wire fences, along with two metal storage buildings and two concrete pads. The underground facility was originally built in 1960 to house and (if necessary) launch a nuclear-equipped Atlas intercontinental missile.
“They were placed [in Kansas] because they were in range of their targets,” John Gilbert, a consultant with the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, told Homes.com. Should they have needed to launch, they were pointed in the direction of the Arctic with an approximate range of 8,700 miles.
Terra Martin of Real Broker, who is handling the sale, told Homes.com that she called the first room you enter “the entrapment room” after walking through a 75-ton steel door.
“You can instantly feel the temperature change within five or ten steps,” Martin said.
The temperature inside is always between 54 and 62 degrees year-round due to the natural insulation of the ground.
She gave it this playful nickname because, during maintenance, if a visitor went down into the facility and didn’t identify themselves, operators would trap them inside. The doors are defunct and permanently propped open, but they could be put back into working order for a large sum. Inside is a massive control room, as well as a concrete escape hatch that allows room for the rocket to exit.
The current owner, who purchased it three years ago, gave the interior of the two-story, 2,500-square-foot control center a fresh coat of white paint.
See the Potential.
Martin says the buyer could easily build a livable house on the property and keep the silo for a different purpose, because it’s zoned as residential and has a water well. Gilbert strongly recommends finding an alternative use for it, as you’d be worrying about humidity and airflow for human comfort.
“I spent many, many hours in a … control center,” he told Homes.com. “It’s noisy. It smells. The air is heavy.”
Some ideas are a wine cellar, an art gallery, or a lounge to visit on occasion. If you’re ambitious, it could be turned into a unique Airbnb experience. So, do you think this is worth $1.3 million?
