Batum missile site up for lease, sale

'Historical treasure' may have many possibilities

Looking for a prime vacation getaway spot? Or a site for your new business?

There's no place better than an old underground Air Force facility.

That's what one man is thinking.

Bari Hotchkiss is a real estate developer looking to lease the Titan One missile site in Batum.

In an advertisement on eBay, at www.ebay.com, Hotchkiss has an entry listed under "Huge Underground Facility" to any interested buyers.

Hotchkiss said he would prefer to lease the property rather than sell it, but eBay doesn't have a leasing option. The eBay entry has to be an advertisement rather than an auction because the Web site is not a licensed brokerage, he said.

On the advertisement, the price of the property is listed as $3,950,000. This is because eBay requires that an item be put up for sale, Hotchkiss said.

"If someone wanted to buy it, I wouldn't even consider (selling) for lower than that," he said.

Hotchkiss said he became interested in purchasing a site after coming across the story of a man in Kansas eight to ten years ago. The man had turned one of the first Atlas ICBM sites partially into a home and was using the rest for his airplane business.

Hotchkiss' curiosity was peaked, and he heard that other sites were still available. He said he eventually tracked down the man from Kansas, and then went with his two eldest children across the country in search of other sites.

Hotchkiss said he doesn't remember how he first heard of the Batum site, but he decided it was a national treasure when he purchased it.

"Older ICBM sites are tiny compared to this, and full of water," he said.

Albert Anderson, industrial development manager for the Port of Moses Lake, said that he discovered the sale of the site at eBay, and went out to see it.

Larson Air Force Base (now the site of Grant County International Airport) had three identical missile sites associated with it, Anderson said. One was located in Batum, one in Warden and one in Royal City.

Another spare was located in what is now an airplane hangar on the airport property, he said.

Each site held three different missiles, and were only operational from 1961 to 1965, which includes the Cuban missile crisis, Anderson said.

"They're really interesting Cold War relics," he said. "These are national treasures of historical importance. Sometimes, we don't realize (a site) has historical importance until it's too late, but these silos or missile sites really are a part of our history that needs to be preserved, one way or another."

Anderson said there are "darn few" missile sites left in the country, estimating that maybe there are 40 different sites along the northern tier states. After the Cold War, most sites were closed down, he said.

Anderson said there were two reasons he went out to see the site. One was the chance to finally see something he'd known about for years.

"I'd never been in one," he said. "I've lived in Grant County, I lived down in Warden when I was in high school, and I've known about the site down there for years. I'd never seen one; I'd seen diagrams."

Anderson said that his impression was that the site was a lot bigger than he'd expected, with tanks for propellant, tanks for water, tanks for diesel, rooms for people to live in, electrical supplies, etc.

"These silos were like 160 feet deep," he said, noting that he had to carry a flashlight when touring the facilities. "When we got to the silos, I wasn't about to lean over and look down to see the bottom … It's a dangerous place to tour. There are holes to fall in, there are metal things sticking out where you're trying to walk. You have to be very cautious, very aware of the dangers lurking around every corner."

There's no equipment within the site, Anderson said, as all of the computers, wiring and conduits and the like have been removed. But he said it was easy to see where it all had been.

"It doesn't take much of an imagination to see a different world," Anderson said.

Former Air Force Col. Clyde Owen was base commander at Larson Air Force Base when the missile sites closed, and went on to become executive manager of the Port of Moses Lake.

Owen recalled that when the site was closed down, the silos were stripped of everything that was considered valuable and something that the Air Force and the military would want, and the surplus was turned over to general Air Force administration for sale.

The other reason Anderson went out to see the site was for reasons of economic development.

"We come across people that at times have odd demands," he said, adding that someone once got in touch with him searching for an underground space to work on cosmic radio waves, for example.

Hotchkiss said that he would prefer any potential leaseholders or buyers to keep the site open to the public.

"So many people keep contacting me asking for tours," he said, adding that a tour of the facility takes him two or three hours when he has other things to do, and he's not set up for tours.

Still, he prefers that over the people who constantly come out to his place, break off his padlocks and sneak in.

"It's one thing to come and have a look and get the tour; it's another thing to break in," Hotchkiss said.

Reaction from the advertisement online is good, considering the typical response on eBay, Hotchkiss said.

"The overwhelming majority are curiosity seekers who want to take tours," he said. "We're talking to people all over the place for different uses, but we're holding out for something special."

Owen said he had no idea what he'd like to see happen to the site.

"They've tried many things and nothing seems to have been too successful," he said.

Anderson said that of the three missile sites in Grant County, the one in Batum is by far the most pristine.

The site in Warden had a lot of its tunnels concreted up to store low pressure gas and fertilizer, he said. Royal City's site, as he understands it, was built on a shallow water table and has flooded.

He mentioned turning the silo into a storage vault, a tourist attraction or a recreation area as some potential suggestions.

"That's something on the positive side of it," Anderson said. "On the negative side, maybe it's just a big hole in the ground with asbestos and danger lurking everywhere."

Other suggestions on the eBay advertisement include a personal or corporate retreat, a winery or a youth camp.

"I suppose my highest and best (wish) is some group to do some sort of an educational camp and facility where kids can come literally from all over the world and stay for a few days or a few weeks," Hotchkiss said.

"Probably a lot of people don't even know that they're there and have never, ever been down inside of it," Anderson said. "There's a great history lesson there."