Shuttered 192-acre North Carolina NASA campus hits market for $30M

It’s an out-of-this-world opportunity!

An abandoned NASA campus in North Carolina went on the market for $30 million and offers a “ready-made getaway to the stars” across the staggering 192-acre property, according to an online listing.

The shuttered base, constructed in 1963 at the height of the Space Race against the Soviet Union, served as a satellite tracking facility and even helped capture the first-ever images of Earth from the cosmos, according to a listing posted on NAI Piedmont Triad.

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It was also used by the National Security Agency as a key satellite communications hub during the Cold War, according to the listing.

The campus, dubbed the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, sprawls across 192 acres and features more than 30 buildings — including a welcome center, library, exhibits, a retrofitted 200-person cafeteria, and dorms to house the staff.

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The property also comes readily equipped with an array of antiquated scientific and technological assets, including 25 optical telescopes, a planetarium, dish antennas, data centers, laboratories, and radio arrays, according to the listing.

To top it off, a breathtaking 500,000 acres of protected woodlands that are part of the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County are also included in the $30 million.

“All of us are excited about it just because we’ve never seen anything like it and probably never will,” Robbie Perkins, Market President at NAI Piedmont Triad, told WLOS.

Perkins said that the government spent approximately $250 million constructing the facility during the 1960s, which would translate to roughly $2.7 billion today, according to an inflation calculator.

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The campus, however, isn’t just sitting and collecting dust. It is currently owned and operated by a non-profit that uses it for STEM education, research, data archiving, facility rentals, events, and private programs, according to the listing.

Perkins said he’s already received interest from buyers worldwide, but didn’t specify any big names.

Any would-be owner would need to be approved by the PARI Board of Directors and the North Carolina Attorney General.