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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Titan Missile Base for Sale

posted by on October 11 at 10:46 AM

Seattle artist Tar Art Rat (currently based in Berlin) today posted an item on his blog about the eBay sale of a decommissioned 1950s underground missile base near Moses Lake. The base includes 16 subterranean buildings. Tar Art Rat suggests artists should buy it (price tag: $1.5 million) and turn it into “an underground art city/world and fallout shelter.”

Sounds seriously dreamy.

552a_3.JPG.jpg

UPDATE: Sam M. in the comments points toward Penny Arcade’s great comic sendup/obsessive rant about the missile base’s possibilities here.

RSS icon Comments

1

Whatever. This space has been available for a decade. Having been there, I can honestly say it'll take at least $10 million or more for full renovations, sump pumps, and everything else. Funny how "OMG, IT WOULD BE SO PERFECT FOR X" always shoots out of the mouths of people who are nowhere near the thing, have no concept of the reality of the thing, and also aren't going to be available at all. It's like saying, "You know what would be awesome? Someone should build a car that runs on water. Not me, I have models in France to attempt to sleep with." Put up or shut up.

Posted by Thedrunkenmonkey | October 11, 2007 10:54 AM
2

OH MY GOD I want it!

Posted by monkey | October 11, 2007 10:54 AM
3

I've got 18 dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

Posted by Sally Struthers Lawnchair | October 11, 2007 11:01 AM
4

The owner posts no pictures of the interior of the structure, so I'm guessing it's vandalized and scrapped beyond any usable means. There are people who live in silos that are actually decent, but my guess is that this one is a shit-hole beyond repair.

Posted by seattle98104 | October 11, 2007 11:04 AM
5

How about we lock the creators of "Lost" in there until they figure out a fucking story arc?

Posted by MvB | October 11, 2007 11:10 AM
6

These bases are scattered throughout New Mexico. When I was a teenager, we used to go hang out in them, get high, and nearly die.

Posted by Gitai | October 11, 2007 11:14 AM
7

Seriously, all I need is $50 million for renovations and a fluffy white cat with a diamond collar.

Posted by monkey | October 11, 2007 11:21 AM
8

ahh, the american chateau.

there are actually quite a few of these bases for sale. this particular base popped up on a Gizmodo a while back. a commentor there lead me to the site below.

http://www.missilebases.com/

Posted by Preston | October 11, 2007 11:29 AM
9

The hometown boys behind Penny Arcade sent this one up yesterday in their usual fashion--which is to say, brilliantly nerdy:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/10

Posted by Sam M. | October 11, 2007 11:31 AM
10

Hey, Zefram Cochrane is going to need one of these badly in about 50 years, so why not buy now and make a contribution to history?

Posted by COMTE | October 11, 2007 11:36 AM
11

but, it's in moses-fucking-lake! blech.

Posted by chris | October 11, 2007 1:24 PM
12

2 words: LSD Factory

Posted by j in sea | October 11, 2007 1:27 PM
13

Nickels and Paul Allen should team up to build a street car and some "transit-oriented development"

Posted by Andrew | October 11, 2007 1:33 PM
14

Isn't Tom Cruise building one of these?

Posted by Fnarf | October 11, 2007 1:46 PM
15

Does anyone know the exact coordinates of this? I'm curious to look it up on Google Earth

Posted by seamore | October 11, 2007 2:34 PM
16

found it: 47.1865, -118.82

And, some cool pics of a similar site:
http://triggur.org/silo/shaft.html

Posted by seamore | October 11, 2007 3:10 PM
17

This post got me thinking about Hanford artist James Acord. What ever became of him and his ambitious post-Cold War project to turn radioactive waste into colossal heroic statuary? There's a feature story for you, Jen!

Posted by Jim Demetre | October 11, 2007 8:48 PM

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