|
 Tucked
peacefully among the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York is the
Silo Home. From the ground's surface it appears to be a quaint Saranac
vacation home, surrounded by 20 acres of Adirondack State Park forest
and flanked by a long airplane runway strip. But under this countryside
compound's finished wood floors lies an underground network of Cold
War-era bunkers reinforced and ready for the End of Days.
"I
actually could fly you in and you would think it is just a normal home,"
explains Bruce Francsico, one half of the real estate development duo
that owns the Silo Home, and an airplane pilot himself. "You wouldn't
know this was a missile silo until you get inside and start walking down
and realize the stairs just keep going." That's right, a missile silo.
The Silo Home's underground system was built in late 1950s to house an
Atlas-F Missile, a Cold War era intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) upon which nuclear warheads could sit. This site's purpose was to
stash such a missile in the event of a nuclear Armageddon, capable of
both firing a ICBM from its launchpad and protecting onsite workers from
a direct nuclear attack. The silo was started in 1958 and construction
finished two to three years later. Construction costs in 1958 for silos
like this one tallied $18 million apiece, explains Francisco, equaling
nearly $400 million in today's inflation-adjusted dollars. So how much
do the owners want for this apocalypse-ready vacation home? A
surprisingly modest $750,000. "It's a real steal, especially since we
put millions of dollars into restoring it," admits Francisco, who says
the silo spent 30 years submerged in water before Francisco's cousin and
business partner, Gregory Gibbons, got his hands on it in 1991.
The
property has actually been on and off the market for several years,
asking $2.6 million, and then $1.76 million, with no buyer materializing.
The cousins are ready to be rid of the property (and their business
partnership on it), hence the 70% price discount. They have hired Select
Sotheby's International Realty to co-broker the listing with Francisco
as well. So for three quarters of a million dollars -- the price of a
one bedroom in a decent Manhattan highrise-- here's what you get. For
starters, a finished house less than 20 years old. Its top floor, or the
above-ground floor, spans 1,800 square feet that includes a living area
with fireplace, a master bedroom suite and two bathrooms. Outside
there's a wraparound porch, an outdoor shower and a garage/airplane
hangar. The top level also has a staircase that winds down 125 feet into
the earth, leading to two more subterranean levels of living space.
These levels, which are the former Launch Control Center, comprise 2,300
additional square feet that includes a kitchen and dining room, two
bedroom suites with Jacuzzi-studded marble bathrooms, and an
entertainment room. These floors are encased in three-foot thick walls
of concrete reinforced with stainless steel mesh. "The Launch Control
Center is the part that is fixed up, the "007 secret palace" type area
underground," says Francisco. "The whole place was designed so that they
[the crew] would survive a nuclear attack and then raise the missile to
the surface and shoot it in the case of an attack." Past the LCC, nine
additional levels protrude further underground, making up the 12,000
square feet that was actual missile storage space.
These
levels have yet to be renovated and finished but the infrastructure
remains ready to withstand the worst: the silo itself is a steel "superstructure"
that hangs from a huge spring suspension system that was "designed to
absorb the shock of a direct nuclear hit," according to the Silo Home
website. Now for the big question. Is it even safe to reside here if a
nuke called this home first? "It had a missile in it but I don't think
they ever had a [nuclear] warhead on it," says Francisco, noting that
warheads were usually stored at the nearby (and now defunct) Plattsburgh
Airforce Base. "We had the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers up to make sure
there wasn't any hazardous material left up there by the government.
Some of these sites have contamination issues, but we don't -- this has
a clean bill of health." The Silo Home is offered with up to 240 acres
of additional land, subdivision permits and/or private airport permits,
all for larger price tags. The property could be used a private
residential retreat or converted into a resort, housing development --
even a full-fledged airport. Francisco is hunting for a prospective
buyer or investor, whichever comes first. Buyers must prove they have
the cash funds to pay for the compound, as this property is available
for sale only to 100% cash buyers.
(For more
on "The Benefits of Buying Home With Cash," click here.) Francisco says
the new price is drumming up interest among several parties. He already
has one showing planned for the week after Thanksgiving and plans to
arrange others for the same week. In the meantime, though, he's been
acting as a landlord. "I've been renting it out for vacation getaways
all year round. We've had a lot of honeymooning couples actually,"
chuckles the builder. I cover real estate, writing about everything from
trends in the housing market to ultra high-end luxury listings to
data-based cities lists. Real estate is in my blood thanks to a realtor
for a mom and a property developer/landlord for a dad. I have had a
front row seat for... di Morgan Brennan |
Koldkrigsmonumentet
i Finderup er lukket og slukket om et år til halvandet
efter beslutning på topmøde i Bruxelles i onsdag aften
Officielt: Nato lukker bunkeren Nato-bunkeren i Finderup
skal lukkes, og står formentlig tom om halvandet års
tid. Det sker efter en beslutning i Natop onsdag aften.
Arkivfoto Foto: Henning Bagger/Scanpix