Missile Bunker Listed on eBay, Again

An abandoned missile base in Washington State is back in the news. The former Titan missile silo at Larsen Air Force base in central Washington, which for many years was marketed as a potential "data bunker," has been featured this week on Boing Boing and the BBC. The news: the 57-acre site is for sale, and is actually listed on eBay for $1.5 million.

Here's the real news: this property has been for sale for years, and was previously listed on eBay in March 2004, when the list price was more than $3.9 million. The property has remained unsold during the huge boom in data centers in central Washington and a concurrent mini-boom in underground data centers (with new sites including the SpringNet Underground in Missouri, Cavern Technologies in Kansas City, StrataSpace in Louisville and the InfoBunker in Iowa).

After having no luck finding a data center buyer, it appears the missile base in Washington is now being repositioned as an ultra-secure residence. It seems that a number of former Cold War missile sites are being converted into spacious underground residences, and being marketed on the web at sites including SubTerra and MissileBases.com.

NOTE: The Larsen AFB site is different from the nearby Titan I LLC facility, which will soon house a major new data center for Ask.com.