Investors seek returns from the end of the world
Doomsday bunkers in disused US missile silos get attention from local buyers
Property investors in the UAE have shown interest in luxury doomsday bunkers in the US, which can withstand a nuclear attack or a catastrophic natural disaster, their developer says.
The “survival condos” are many metres underground in a former Cold War-era missile silo in Kansas. People can try to ride out the worst there for at least five years.
Prices start at $1.5 million (Dh5.5m) for a basic 85 square metre unit, while $50m is the price for the entire 15-storey silo, which can accommodate 120 people.
No purchases by UAE people have been made yet.
But developer and owner Larry Hall believes the interest is serious and one client has asked him to produce designs for a mosque and a helicopter pad.
Mr Hall told The National he knows of several interested buyers.
“We were recently asked to show both the completed silo and the new one that is under construction to a group from the UAE,” he said. “We are hoping that this visit happens in January.
“The new facility has a narrow window in the schedule to support these types of changes but that window will be closing fairly soon.”
These people are believed to be interested in a whole silo rather than units.
“I would say this is unique to the Middle East as their interest is the entire facility, which is much more interesting,” Mr Hall said.
Residents would have access to a swimming pool, dog-walking park, rock climbing, a classroom, a theatre and a shop. An aquaponic farm produces food.
Special lighting and plans to rotate communal jobs to fight boredom are planned to meet the psychological challenges posed by long-term life underground. A community group would enforce living rules.
Renewable energy comes from wind turbines supplemented by diesel generators and water comes from an aquifer. Buyers also must pay monthly service charges, excluding tax. There is 24-hour security.
Mr Hall has completed one silo and the second is expected to be finished within 16 months. The existing bunker has 12 units, while the newer one will be bigger with up to 24 units.
The original silo is sold out and those who bought units are mainly self-made millionaires who bought them for their families.
Mr Hall owns one of the units and said interest from the UAE and the Gulf region would probably be greater than he knows because non-disclosure agreements stop agents from revealing buyers’ identities.
The developer said one agent, who claimed to represent clients in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and China, told him that the buyers wanted a “safe space” for their citizens.
“He used examples of students going to American universities, diplomats and even engineers and their families living or working in the US,” Mr Hall said.
“The concern was also the same. If some catastrophe, either man-made or a natural, were to happen these citizens would have a safe place to go on short notice to find safety.”
The silo’s upper section has 2.7-metre thick walls that can withstand a nuclear blast producing winds of more than 3,200kph. There are advanced communications systems and residents would be given secure transport to the silo in the event of a disaster.
The silos were named after a type of intercontinental ballistic missile called Atlas F. Seventy-two silos were built by US army engineers in the 1960s. Most of them were decommissioned by the 1970s and sat idle for years until Mr Hall bought one for $300,000.
He once worked as a government contractor and saw a gap in the market after 9/11 when emergency planning reemerged as a government priority. Mr Hall sank millions of his own money into the project.
The rising interest in these units is linked to the “prepper”, or survivalist movement, whose members stockpile food, water and medicine in readiness for a worst-case scenario.