A distinctive and humongous building with a ton of potential is a real steal—at just $500,000.

The 37,372-square-foot structure on Poultney Street in Whitehall, NY, near the Vermont border, was built in 1899 as a National Guard Armory. The enormous space, at such a low cost, has the listing agent all fired up.

“To me, $500,000 is ridiculously cheap. We’re talking about $12 a square foot. That’s insane,” says the agent, Michael Franklin. “The cost to construct something like this today would probably be on the order of $300 a square foot.”

The National Guard used and maintained the property until 2011. That’s when the current owner purchased it as a retirement project.

“He’s had fun with it for nine years, and now, it’s somebody else’s turn. We need a steward for it. It’s a fabulous building,” Franklin says.

Much of the space is currently devoted to the Whitehall Athletic Club—a business a new owner could keep going. The rest of the sizable square footage is living space for the owner.

“It’s kind of like the ultimate man cave,” Franklin says.

He’s referring to the 10,000-square-foot gymnasium, a pistol range, racquetball courts, a baseball pitching machine, exercise equipment, locker rooms, a yoga studio, and more.

Despite the relatively remote location, Franklin says the gymnasium could be good for a professional basketball team, since there is plenty of seating and parking. It has already been in use as an event venue in the past decade.

Franklin says the owner set up a lighting system above the gymnasium and held wrestling events there.

“It’s actually so big that they even had car shows and boat shows in there over the years,” he says.

There have also been many weddings and other events at the venue that used the bar and commercial kitchen.

“It’s got everything you can think of, and it’s all stainless-steel stuff,” Franklin says, adding that this is the only kitchen on the property.

It once fed all of the soldiers in the nearby mess hall.

The current owner lives upstairs, in what was once the officers’ quarters for the armory. It has 1.5 bathrooms and plenty of space to spread out.

“There are beautiful fireplaces, and the woodworking is all first-rate,” Franklin adds.

The state architect, Isaac G. Perry, designed the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He designed many buildings throughout New York, many with distinctive turrets.

This building has two of those turrets. One is octagonal and five stories high, and the other is round and 3.5 stories. Both are unfinished inside—and could prove to be tempting projects for the armory’s next owner.

“There’s all kinds of developable space. The turrets are on the third and fourth level. You could put a spiral staircase in there and turn that into an awesome apartment or studio,” Franklin suggests.

“Can you imagine having an apartment that is basically three levels with a spiral staircase going up?” he asks. “And sitting at the top of that turret and having some cocktails in the top of that turret, looking down that river valley?”

The Champlain Canal sits right next to the property, and the mountains in the other direction form a dramatic backdrop.

Also included in the 2.7-acre offering is a 6,000-square-foot garage that once housed all of the National Guard equipment.

The listing price of $500,000 covers the two buildings. If a buyer wants to forge ahead with the athletic club, the exercise equipment and other contents are available for an additional $150,000.

“That is negotiable, based on exactly what [the buyer] wants,” Franklin explains.

He says that a savvy buyer could consider a number of uses for the hulking structure while honoring its heritage. He notes that those who trained here served in the aftermath of the Spanish American War, in World War I, and in World War II.

“The soldiers that trained there, they went through a lot of stuff,” he adds. “There’s a lot of history in this building.”

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