When an Underground Missile Base Was Up For Sale: 2007’s Most Unusual Real Estate Listing

In 2007, an unusual real estate offering made headlines—a decommissioned Titan missile base was listed for sale on eBay. Situated between Ritzville and Moses Lake in Eastern Washington, the 57-acre property was priced at $1.5 million. It boasted 16 underground buildings, three missile silos, and an extensive network of underground tunnels.

Here’s the entrance to the property, so to say.

Now, let’s look at what the missile base for sale looks like under the ground. Let’s start with some of the original illustrations of the whole complex, before we continue to more photos (click image to enlarge and zoom in).

And here’s another illustration of what awaited the potential buyer inside (click to enlarge and zoom in).

The seller, Bari Hotchkiss, a California entrepreneur, had owned the site for over a decade. He envisioned transforming the former military base into a youth camp or an educational facility dedicated to Cold War history.

To make the property more accessible, Hotchkiss was open to selling, leasing, or entering into partnerships to bring his vision to life. The financing terms at the time included a down payment of approximately $300,000 and monthly payments of $7,000, contingent on credit approval.

The former base, located near Batum in Grant County, is about an hour and a half west of Spokane. It was one of three Titan missile bases constructed in the Columbia River Basin around 1960 and decommissioned in 1965, according to a 1999 Spokesman-Review article.

Hotchkiss acquired the base over a decade ago from a partnership that had originally purchased it from the government. While the region has several missile silo sites, Hotchkiss noted this one was in relatively better condition, as many others face significant flooding issues.

Hotchkiss described the base as a one-of-a-kind property, stating, “There’s nothing else like it anywhere.” The offering highlighted the niche market of repurposing decommissioned military sites, appealing to buyers interested in both historical preservation and unconventional development opportunities.

Naturally, Hotchkiss was partial to the property, but he believed $1.5 million for the base was an incredible deal. Determining its value wasn’t easy—there weren’t many comparable sales in the area—and any new use would have required significant investment.

Even so, with all the land and infrastructure included, he insisted it was a bargain.

“For $1.5 million—gosh, it was getting to the point where almost anywhere you went in cities those days, that didn’t buy a lot,” he told the The Spokesman-Review.

Despite the buzz surrounding this listing, the story’s conclusion remains a mystery. It’s unclear whether the missile base was sold or who, if anyone, ultimately purchased it. Who knows? It might have been turned into an Airbnb, just like this Titan II Missile Bunker, where you can have the entire Launch Control Center (LCC) of about 3500 sq ft to yourself.

After all, as noted above, parts of the missile base for sale are already used as living quarters (the colored part on the below image showing part of the complex).

Interestingly, Airbnb was founded in 2007—the same year this listing went up. So, who knows? By now, this unique property might have made its way onto the platform too. So take a look if you’re interested—especially if you want to survive the zombie apocalypse!