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Ultra-Rich Doomsday Preppers Are Buying Luxury Underground Condos That Can Withstand Nuclear Blast

Ultra-Rich Doomsday Preppers Are Buying Luxury Underground Condos That Can Withstand Nuclear Blast

A former government contractor has turned an abandoned missile silo into the hottest spot in the post-apocalyptic wasteland

Tom Sanders

Tom Sanders

Doomsday preppers worldwide have long made a ritual of kitting out their backyard bomb shelters in case things finally go pear-shaped - but what if you fancied something a bit more luxurious to see out the end of the world?

That's where Larry Hall comes in, a 64-year-old ex-government contractor who has begun converting abandoned missile silos into a series of luxury inverted skyscrapers to allow the rich and powerful to kick back and ride out the apocalypse in style. You can take a tour of his original doomsday condo below:

Larry started developing his first 'Survival Condo' in rural Kansas back in 2010, but following a spike in interest amid the pandemic now has several more in development throughout the US, Europe and Asia.

Marketed as a 'marvel of engineering', Larry's original Survival Condo boasts a total floor space of 54,000 square feet, and come equipped with enough food and water to last its 75 residents more than five years.

Spread out across 15 floors and delving over 200ft underground, the silo is split up into 14 luxury apartments that contain all the comforts one could hope for.

Most importantly, it can withstand a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead - roughly the size of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki - detonating from within half a mile away.

The complex is made of special concrete which can bend several inches without breaking following a nuclear shockwave, withstanding a blast travelling at up to 2,000 miles per hour.

As for amenities, each silo comes equipped with a 75-meter swimming pool, full luxury spa and sauna, a movie theatre, lounge, exercise facility, rock climbing wall, golf range, indoor shooting range, and even a dog park.

Survival Condos

Survival Condos

There's also a supermarket, medical centre, classroom, and an aquaponics lab for residents to grow their own fruit and veg.

To top it off, each room also contains 'virtual windows' that provide a video-relayed view of the outside world, in order to help residents fight off cabin fever.

Hall told the Sun the idea was initially born in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Originally he wanted to buy and convert Cold War-era missile silos into data centers to protect the world's biggest companies in the event of nuclear fallout, but after the idea proved to be unviable he changed his model and 'decided to protect people instead'.

He said: "The goal is to protect residents from a whole wide range of potentially world-ending threats from a nuclear war, to a pandemic, meteor strike, and civil unrest.

Residents have access to a fully-functioning underground gym.
Survival Condos
Survival Condo
Residents can grow fruit and veg in an aquaponics lab.
Survival Condos

"These are luxury, nuclear-hardened bunkers that are engineered to protect any resident both physically and mentally too."

Though none of the wealthy residents live in their condos full time at the moment, several have spent several weeks or even up to a month underground during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Interested in booking a spot? Tough luck.

In the original Kansas complex, the price of a 900 square-foot hotel room-style suite starts at $500,000, with larger, 3,600 square-foot multi-level penthouses going for a cool $4.5 million - and all of them have been since snapped up.

Luckily though, more complexes are in the pipeline, so if you have the cash your post-apocalyptic needs may still be met.

Featured Image Credit: SurvivalCondos

Topics: US News, Weird