CONCORDIA, Kan. — The end of the world has been predicted many times, but still some believe 2012 is the year it will really happen. Some are certain the end of days is hidden in the Mayan calendar.
But in the middle of Kansas, one man is turning a piece of our past into a silo safe haven for our uncertain future.
“I try not to get too supportive about one fear over another.” says developer Larry Hall, who says that the list of threats to our planet keeps growing.
But, it is fear that is the factor behind Hall’s underground safe haven. His survival condominiums are being built inside an old nuclear missile silo near Concordia, Kansas. The silos are 15 stories deep, going down almost 200 feet.
And each 1,800 square feet condo sells for a cool $2 million.
“I know that sounds like a lot of money and it is a lot of money, but for what you get you couldn’t get a better value.” says Hall.
Seven floors will be living areas for up to 70 people, sandwiched between a library, medical facility and growing area to sustain a possible underground society. When the missile silo was built back in the 1960s the walls had to protect against everything including an earthquake.
The walls start at nine feet thick and taper down to three feet the deeper you get. Hall says that because the walls get thinner, they become more flexible.
“It’s seismically stable, so it’s designed to move within here,” says Hall.
The first floor is designed to be the life support for the entire structure. The plans include a water treatment facility, a lighting system to imitate the sun, a growing area for vegetables, and a fish farm.
The first of the seven condominiums is already framed up. Hall’s even figured out how to include windows in the layout.
“You select your scenes that produce the motion the sound and everything you could live on a beach, you could live in Paris, you could live in New York City,” says Hall.
Hall has bought into his own idea – purchasing one of the condos for his family. But he is optimistic doomsday is farther away than the 2012 predictions.
“I’m hopeful we don’t need it for survival capabilities, but I sleep better knowing that it’s available if I need it,” says Hall.
Hall still has a few spots for sale. He says three people in the Greater Kansas City Area are considering buying including a former Chiefs player.
Most of the facility is expected to be finished sometime this summer, long before the predicted end of the world.
“A lot of people are under the misconception that these people are just betting on something wrong and 2012 is going to be this Armageddon or the Mayan tie-in or whatever and it’s really not that. I’m more concerned with solar flare or economic collapse that would result in civil unrest,” said Hall.