There are good reasons why retired missile bases and bunkers continue to be a fascination among prepper websites and wish lists. They were created for environments that any normal building was never intended to withstand. At the Atlas E Missile Base in Sprague, WA, that same Cold War engineering provides a practical application today: ensuring your home, office, and even inventory, are kept private and safe from the outside environment.
Built Below Ground for a Reason
When the military decided to create missile silos that could withstand an attack, it resulted in reinforced concrete, burying them, and placing earth barriers between them and the surface. Creating a building that is more durable, harder to break into, and nearly invisible from the street means a great deal for today’s property owners.
If you are planning on storing anything important on your property such as equipment, inventory, vehicles, records, or your personal stash, then the walls surrounding it are an important part of it. An underground facility isn’t just “locked.” It is buried, reinforced by concrete, and nearly invisible to the passing public as they drive past 24 acres of fenced property in Washington.
Privacy That Isn’t an Add-On
Most “secure” storage facilities are just better fences and locks. Underground storage is entirely different. No store front, no line of sight from a neighboring property, and no ability to estimate what is stored inside, from the outside looking in. In that regard, it makes sense that any business owner that is trying to protect their proprietary equipment and inventory, or someone who appreciates privacy, would find it to be an essential part of the property rather than added on after.
It also means less visibility from the outside. The passing traffic, foot traffic from a loading dock, and the ability to do a quick recon from a nearby street. Whatever you are storing underground stays there, out of sight and out of mind from anyone who shouldn’t know about it.
Security Against More Than Break-Ins
While physical security tends to be considered preventing theft, underground construction also helps to solve this problem. However, often times the threat to stored goods is weather related, not theft related. Firestorms, thunderstorms, and wild temperature shifts could devastate a regular warehouse or pole barn in an afternoon. A facility that has been constructed underground in earth and concrete isn’t susceptible to those same threats.
It’s worth considering that right now. British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada have had their share of active wildfires this season. Eastern Washington is actually a great deal closer to that smoke and danger than most people expect. No need to panic over it, but a good reminder that “close enough to be affected” is much larger than many people consider when planning their risk management. A facility that was constructed with a view towards fire, weather, and temperature control doesn’t react to that situation. It has always been prepared for it.
Room to Actually Use It
None of it means anything if the facility is simply too small or awkward to be usable. This is a massive facility, not a vault. With over 16,700 square feet of combined living and storage space and a 2,432 square foot metal shop above ground. The property comes on over 24.5 fenced acres with its own airstrip.
That combination is rare. Most secure storage is small. Most large storage spaces are not secure. A converted missile base provides both.
A Property Built for People Who Value Both
Whatever your motivation for a secure facility, whether you are interested in protecting your business or equipment, or just a base that isn’t going to be affected during the next wildfire season or vulnerable to the next attempted break-in, the Atlas E Missile Base has what most properties don’t: secure and protective construction built for the purpose years before “secure storage” became a buzz word.
It’s not a bunker mentality. It is simply a property that was built for exactly what people are seeking right now. Privacy, protection, and space to store what is important, all in one location, near Spokane.
Curious what nearly 17,000 square feet of underground security actually looks like?
Explore the full listing to see the property.