Want the best COVID quarantine house ever? Try this $350K Missouri home … with jail
Talk about a home that is perfect for COVID-19 quarantine. Or, if you’re a parent who thinks timeout really needs to drive home a lesson, tiny Fayette, Missouri, may have exactly what you need.
For sale: a gorgeous $350,000 home with polished hardwood floors, double-oven, modern counter tops and, oh, yeah, just off the kitchen through a back door — a nine-cell jail with metal bars, steel doors, booking room and, for those not too picky about privacy, open porcelain toilets.
Interrogation room is not included.
Perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek, but apparently true, the listing reads: “The cell door lock throws appear to be operational.”
Located in Howard County, about 120 miles east of Kansas City, the three-story, 2,465-square-foot, brick home, with arched windows, was built in 1875. It had been a sheriff’s historic residence and, in 2005, underwent what the listing agent, House of Brokers Reality Inc., said was an estimated $1.5 million in renovations.
The jail, attached from the kitchen, through a steel door and down a flight of steps, spans 2,500 square feet. The 75 photos reveal a typical home listing, until photo number 30. It shows a battleship-gray metal door at the back of the kitchen.
At photo 31, a slit peephole opens. At photo 32, the entire door opens. What follows is a tour down a flight of steps into a jail more along the lines of “The Shawshank Redemption” meets HBO’s “Oz,” as opposed to the type on the friendly “The Andy Griffith Show.”
More for the discerning eye: riveted steel walls and ceilings, concrete floors, metal-framed bunk beds in some cells for as many as 40 “guests.”
Kevin Oeth, mayor of the town of about 2,700 residents, said the jail has not been used for inmates since 2004, a few years after a new Sheriffs’ Department and jail were built about 20 feet away. The last sheriff to occupy the house left in 1991.
Jeffrey Radel, a partner in the real estate firm, said that in 2005 the home sold for $35,000 to a Californian, Gary Kaplan, who never occupied it. He renovated it, which included adding new plumbing, electrical wiring and a three-zoned geothermal heating and cooling system. Several years go, he donated the property as a tax-deductible charitable gift to a nonprofit, Fayette Main Street Inc. The group’s mission is to help revitalize and bring commerce back to the downtown square. The home was an Airbnb; the jail continued to be an event space.
Both the house and jail were put on the market on Wednesday.
Mike Dimond, executive director of Fayette Main Street Inc., said their hope is that a new owner might also run it as an Airbnb or a new business, such as a craft brewery.
“Obviously, we think this is a unique property,” said Radel’s son and co-listing agent, Justin Radel. “We think the buyer might be someone interested in making it a bed and breakfast or maybe a vacation home.”
A vacation place, or maybe even longer: like 20 years to life.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 3:40 PM.
