How I learned to stop worrying and buy an ICBM silo

Following the Cold War, the Pentagon has slowing been selling off former military bases as part of its realignment program, which has provided investment opportunities for some private equity real estate firms. Last year, for example, a consortium of investors acquired the decommissioned El Toro Marine Base in Irvine, California, paying $650 million (€500 million) for the rights to redevelop the former military base.

Some for-sale military properties, however, have yet to capture the attention of the private equity real estate community—which makes sense, since many of the properties are below the earth’s surface. Nevertheless, these decommissioned missile silos, once home to nuclear weapons with names like Nike, Atlas and Titan, have been acquired by private individuals looking for a unique living experience.

Gary Pipes of Pleasant Hill, Missouri bought a former silo for around $200,000. The 15-acre plot includes three underground bunkers. “I thought it was a good investment,” Pipes told a reporter for the McClatchy newspaper chain. He is thinking about turning the facility into a place to store RVs, classic cars or boats—especially since the old elevator that used to load the missiles is still functioning.

Other silos have been acquired by schools and used as classrooms, turned into scuba diving attractions or redeveloped as a museum—that one still has a missile in it.

Ed Peden not only lives in a former Atlas Missile silo in Kansas, he also started acquiring and selling them via his realty business, 20th Century Castles, which sports the tagline “Unique Underground Properties.” Peden has sold more than 27 of the properties and is currently listing a number of silos and communications vaults on his website.

“These massive fortified structures were designed to withstand a nuclear attack, and as such they redefine the meaning of the word ‘shelter,’” the site reads. “Hundreds of years after all current surface dwellings have crumbled to dust, these will remain. They are truly the ‘castles’ of the twentieth century.”

Prices range from $60,000 for a communications vault near Stillwater, Oklahoma to $1.3 million for a 45,000-square-foot missile silo outside of Denver, Colorado.

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