Editor’s Note: Peculiar Properties is a new series highlighting just that—peculiar properties, from former military assets to repurposed funeral homes and anything in between. Contact our editor Clarissa Garza at cgarza@rismedia.com if you have a property peculiar enough to be featured.
Ever scrolled through the MLS and come across a listing that was a bit out of this world? Or perhaps in this world, but just 40 feet underground?
Just four hours from Seattle, in Sprague, Washington, is a listing that will guarantee just that—a decommissioned Atlas E missile base.
This piece of Cold War history once housed one of the first U.S. Air Force’s operational Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM).
Atlas E ICBMs were operational from September 1961 through January 1965, and had a launch response time of approximately 15 minutes. Including the one up for grabs at $1.45 million, there are a total of 28 Atlas E missile sites.
But this isn’t just another abandoned government site. It’s the life’s work of a man who spent over three decades transforming a weapon of mass destruction into a home.
“He always wanted to live underground”
As one would expect, David McIntyre had an odd reason for choosing to buy such a peculiar property.
His daughter, Chandra Spray, tells RISMedia that he always wanted to live underground, even if he didn’t talk about it all the time.
“I always recall that now. He never really obsessed about it; he always had other projects he was working on…So I never remember him even bringing it up until he said, ‘I’m buying the missile base.’”
And he did get to cross that off his bucket list. Though McIntyre eventually built an above-ground living area, he spent the majority of his time living underground.
He bought the missile site after retiring from his dental lab in Seattle, in his early 50s. He purchased the property, after seeing an ad for it, in 1991—long before Zillow was a common verb.
He moved out to the Sprague site and lived in a motel while both the electric and septic system were set up.
Once the underground oasis was habitable, McIntyre moved there with his cat, whom he “treated like a child,” says his son-in-law, Thomas Kontinos, who currently resides on the property with Spray.
“It takes a special person to live out there by yourself,” he adds. “I have a hard time doing it when I’m here by myself.”
Finding the right buyer
So far, several people and companies have shown interest, as there are various uses for the space.
“Companies are looking at it for storage,” Spray explains. “It’s perfect for that, or building something, or even growing like hydroponics. There’s a bomb shelter in England where they grow herbs and everything underground through crowdfunding.”
Crypto miners, drone companies, engineers and scientists have also inquired about the property, said Kontinos.
When it comes to doomsday preppers—another source of potential buyers—Kontinos said that it’s not just a matter of buying the Atlas missile base, closing the hatch and thinking you’re going to survive.
Spray decided to sell the property after her father passed, and she would really like to sell to someone who will appreciate the work her father put into it.
She has been using Houzeo, a flat-fee platform that lists properties on the MLS, and currently has an agent helping with the property. Through Houzeo, they are assigned an agent, but that agent is not representing the sale or performing showings.
Less than 20% of the showings have come from their agent, said Spray.
Given how the property is located in a rural area and the dangers involved with the site itself, Spray and Kontinos have been conducting the tours themselves. Kids are not allowed to tour the site, given the 30-plus foot drop in some areas, Spray added.
The property might also be in the sights of vacationers looking for a unique staycation.
In Roswell, New Mexico, you can rent an entire missile site—an Atlas F Missile Site—through Airbnb.
This fully renovated bunker has over 500 reviews and is marked as a “Guest Favorite.”
In Wilson, Kansas, you can stay, or camp, at an Atlas F missile site.
For those looking for a more upscale option, a Titan II in Vilonia, Arkansas, is also up for grabs on Airbnb.
So what’s it like to live in a missile site?
Kontinos moves to the above-ground living area whenever Spray is out of town.
“For some reason, just sleeping down there by myself—I don’t know—it’s a little creepy. It is dead, dead silence and pitch black. And whenever I hear the slightest sound—because you’re really not supposed to hear anything…Down there, I hear nothing, and when I do hear something, it’s like, ‘What was that? What is that?’” he explains. “Like, I remember I’m in a missile base, so where’s that sound coming from? So I stay upstairs when I’m by myself.”
Spray is far less creeped out by the silent, windowless site. She loves the solitude, just like her dad did. Plus, the sleep is top-notch, she added.
“It’s just like a house; you just don’t have windows,” she says. “I love it for sleeping…You sleep really well. You don’t hear anything.”
And for those wondering, there is, in fact, working WiFi and cell signal underground, but it did take a bit of work to make it happen.
“We got a cellphone repeater that has antennas outside. I was able to run a cable into the base down below that is a cell connection, and that’s limited to within just the living area.”
Location, location, location? More like, renovation, renovation, renovation
More than just its Cold War origins, what makes the property truly extraordinary is the transformation McIntyre accomplished over those three decades. It was more than just hooking up the electricity and setting up running water.
“You gotta remember when he first bought it, it was decommissioned and they took out so much,” Spray explains. “The military strips the base clean, and it was all mucky and wet—pretty nasty.”
McIntyre’s renovation included removing the massive plug that sealed the site and installing a custom-designed elevator.
The finished property also includes the above-ground metal building that McIntyre used as a workshop for his various projects.
Here are the specs, per the Zillow listing:
- 24.15 acres
- 3 beds/3 baths
- 12,946-square-foot underground area
- 820-square-foot above-ground living area
- 3,794-square-foot workshop
- 1,906-square-foot living area below—complete with an elevator
Other pros? No silly HOA fees at the missile site, and no pesky neighbors either!
It is car-dependent, with a walk score of zero and a bike score of 23.
From a maintenance standpoint, Kontinos notes that the property is surprisingly manageable. “It’s just like a house,” he adds.
UFO-hunting headquarters
Besides helping build out his missile site, McIntyre helped out his friend, Peter Davenport, who owns one of the other missile bases nearby.
Before Davenport bought his site in March 2006, he approached McIntyre to get an idea of what he would be in for.
“I approached him to see what his opinion was, how much work it was, what he regretted, what he thought was unfortunate, but it turned out favorably for him. He did an excellent job of renovating it.”
But Davenport didn’t buy the property because of a desire to live underground. He didn’t even live on the property. Instead, he used the subterranean lair as both a library and workspace.
As director of the National UFO Reporting Center, Davenport does a great deal of research, and that research involves an even greater deal of books. Though he doesn’t have an exact count of how many books, he says he filled 15 banana boxes worth of them.
“My principal motivating factor was I wanted a wall big enough to hold my entire library. There are two walls in it that are 96 feet long and, I think, 16 feet high, and that would probably cover most of my books,” he tells RISMedia. “And I like things that are strong. And if there’s one thing that could be said about a missile site, is that they’re strong. So those were my two motivating factors in my decision to seek one out and buy one.”
Considering he doesn’t live on the site, Davenport’s is not at the level of renovation as McIntyre’s site, though he did enlist McIntyre’s help.
“I just thought it would be a neat experience to own a missile site. I haven’t counted on the moisture, the dirt, all the things I’ve had to deal with, and I’m nowhere near as close to done with it,” he explains. “I think I’ll probably end up selling it before I occupy it.”
