Cheney School District administrative headquarters

Five years ago, the district was planning to build a warehouse and new freezer with approximately$300,000 set aside for the purpose, but instead was able to purchase a Cold War-era former missile site in the countryside northeast of Cheney. Then they put a new freezer inside one of the warehouse buildings and still had a whole campus of buildings to fill with offices, meeting spaces and storage.

Section:Gallery

Fri., May 12, 2017

Gary Albrecht, Sean Dotson and Rich Brown of the Cheney School District tours the underground bunker where Nike missiles were once stored and lifted through the roof doors, Thursday, May 11, 2017. The district uses a former missile base in the rural countryside as its headquarters but the missile bunkers arent used for anything at present.

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Cheney School District Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson, left, carpenter Gary Albrecht and Assistant Maintenance Director Rich Brown stand under the large overhead doors in the bunker where Nike surface-to-air missiles were once stored to protect Fairchild Air Force Base. The 65 acres of the former military installation are now the campus of the school district offices. The underground facilities are not used.

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Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson of the Cheney School District stands in the stairway leading down to a Cold War-era missile site on the property where the Cheney district now has their administrative and associated offices. None of the former missile facilities are used for anything, but the above-ground buildings are now filled with offices and storage for the district.

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Long doors that once opened to raise Nike missiles into position for use are shown at the Cheney School District administrative headquarters in the country northeast of Cheney Thursday, May 11, 2017. The district replaced their dilapidated offices with the former military installation which has several very serviceable office buildings plus two large warehouses. The heavily fortified area beneath the doors has no use to the district.

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LJ Klinkenberg, the Cheney Schools Nutrition Services director, closes the door on the giant freezer installed in a warehouse at the districts headquarters, Thursday, May 11, 2017. Five years ago, the district was planning to build a warehouse and new freezer with approximately$300,000 set aside for the purpose, but instead was able to purchase a Cold War-era former missile site in the countryside northeast of Cheney. Then they put a new freezer inside one of the warehouse buildings and still had a whole campus of buildings to fill with offices, meeting spaces and storage.

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Former military offices now belong to the Cheney School District on a former missile base northeast of Cheney, shown Thursday, May 11, 2017. The 65-acre site now provides offices, warehouse space and beautiful views of the countryside.

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Cheney School District Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson walks up to one of the buildings on the district headquarters campus which was once a Cold War-era missile site for Nike missiles, shown Thursday, May 11, 2017. The site was extremely cheap because the military preferred to sell the 65 acres and several buildings to an educational entity.

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The 60-plus acres of a former missile site purchased by the Cheney School District for its headquarters in the rural area northeast of downtown Cheney is fenced like the former Cold War-era missile site that it once was.

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The Cheney School District�s administrative offices and other departments fill a series of buildings that were once a Cold War-era missile base in the country northeast of Cheney, shown Thursday, May 11, 2017. The campus winds up the hillside to the top, where an Air National Guard radio station once monitored air traffic from Fairchild. Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

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