Former Air Force radar site in South Dakota for sale

CMSgt Lawrence Eldridge Kurtz, USAF (Ret) left the Service in 1962 but retained base privileges until he died in 2010. As a dependent I had them until I turned 18. 

The commissary and base exchange at Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue, Nebraska were preferred shopping spaces but occasionally we went over to Chandler Air Force Station in Murray County, Minnesota for tax-free supplies at a time when a gallon of gasoline was less than 20 cents, a box of Cheerios was 15 cents and a carton of cigarettes was a buck and a half. 

In 1942 the US Army Corps of Engineers built 830 concrete and steel all-risk bunkers at the Black Hills Army Depot south of Edgemont, South Dakota. In 1967 the military sold the property to the City of Edgemont who then sold it to local cattle ranchers until Del Mar, California-based Robert Vicino entered a 2017 agreement with S&S Land and Cattle Co., and its partner corporation, Fort Igloo Bunkers. Vicino bought much of the 18 square mile property and 575 bunkers in 2020 for nearly $2.5 million. 

Chandler and Gettysburg Air Force Station in Potter County, South Dakota were two of 28 radar installations built after the Korean War. Today, although the Federal Aviation Administration operates a radar site on the 42 acre property near Gettysburg another Californian sees value in South Dakota real estate.

Property owner Lev Goukassian, a retired businessman who said he ran a computer company, posted the property sale on Facebook marketplace recently with an asking price of just under $1 million. But by Friday, the asking price had jumped to $4.5 million. While photos of the property reveal buildings that are showing their age, Goukassian said the base buildings have strong walls and some unique features, including underground tunnels that connect them. [Former Air Force base in South Dakota with '50 beds, 15 baths' listed for sale]

Chandler was assigned to the 787th Radar Squadron until 1969 when it was shuttered. The military sold the site, the homes were removed but the developer was unable to find a buyer so the compound was demolished in 1993 after sitting derelict for decades.