0 McCrabby to buy superhero hideout - $17.3 million

Prior to this weekend, McCrabby was riding his bike and thinking (sometimes that's McCrabby's therapy), and wondering what to do with the extra $17.3 million he had laying around.

Then, as he scanned the net for options, it came to him...   

Photo: The Norwegian Defence Estates Agency

He found a listing for a secret, mountainside submarine base. listed for sale in Norway.  Looking a little bit like the Bat-cave or a hideout for Superman, this place was built by NATO in 1967 and run by the U.S. Navy.  Apparently they no longer have a need to hide submarines in a mountain cave; go figure.

Photo: The Norwegian Defence Estates Agency

When this facility was built (it's called the Olavsvern Naval Base), it cost NATO just short of a half billion dollars ($494 million, we're told).  And, while the government is a shrewd negotiator with your dollars, McCrabby has gotten the price down to $17.3 million, a 96.5 per cent reduction, which is an even bigger hit than McCrabby took on his house last year.  

The available space measures 13,500 square meters (that's meters, not feet and there are about 10.7 square feet in a square meter), including the opening at the side of the mountain.   Then, the really intriguing part is the  25,000-square meter space within the mountain.   

Photo: The Norwegian Defence Estates Agency

While you'll find ordinary  rooms like offices (most are NOT window offices) inside the cave, it also has a dry dock for submarines and boats as well as a tunnel system -- the bat-cave had tunnels, we're told.  

This place has not been used since 2002, so there is some fix-up / clean-up required, but at a 96+ per cent price reduction, McCrabby doesn't think he can resist.

Here's hoping you'll all visit us.   It's a great weekend get-away...

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