ND missile complex sold for $530K

A North Dakota cold war relic has been sold in an online auction.

The Stanley Mickelsen missile complex in the northeast corner of North Dakota was built in the 1970s to shoot down incoming nuclear missiles. Treaty negotiations with the Soviet Union shut down the $5 billion facility four months after it opened.

Late Friday, the government sold the property for $530,000 to an unknown buyer. Local economic development officials wanted to redevelop the site as a research and developement facility for unmanned aircraft, but they were outbid.

"We certainly hope that a new owner would be something that would lend to the economic impact and job creation and all those good things," said Carole Goodman, director of the Cavalier County Job Development Authority. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that is the case."

The federal government does not release information about buyers of surplus government property.

The 435-acre site has several buildings and a large concrete structure that housed radar. It's often called "the pyramid on the prairie" because of its distinctive shape.

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