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21 February 2023
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — Cass County is home to a real estate listing you don’t see often.
The county’s old detention center, which dates back to 1960, is for sale, and a buyer is close to taking ownership now.
The Cass County Law Enforcement Center may come back to life soon after sitting empty since 2001. Thousands of convicted inmates did their time in the 12,000-square-foot facility.
Paula Voss, the real estate agent in charge of that listing, admits the jail needs some work, but with an asking price of only $199,000, it’s drawing a lot of interest.
“If you look on YouTube, there’s very few prisons that have been for sale. Then you can look and see what fun things they’ve done with them,” Voss smiled.
Folks in Harrisonville foresee a restaurant or tourist attraction there.
Lee’s Summit-based filmmaker Dylan Welter recently shot the feature film “Confinement” in the jail. Welter said his film, which focuses on criticisms of the system of solitary confinement, said his movie will be available on Amazon in March. He was impressed with small, authentic things about the jail, such as graffiti left on the walls.
“It’s empty now, and nobody lives here. But you stand in the cells, and you see this is kind of run down and this is a crummy place to be, but we’re here by choice,” Welter said.
The old jail’s location has potential since it sits on W. Pearl Street near the city’s downtown square. Harrisonville City Administrator Brad Ratliff believes the possibilities are endless for the right buyer.
“It’s a property where — what can you do with it? There’s a lot of things where they would have to get pretty creative in being able to innovate this kind of property,” Ratiff said.
Anthony Murphy is the investor who’s buying the jail. He said he’s considering a number of options, including an Airbnb, a rental set for more movie shoots and an event space, among other ideas.
Folks in Harrisonville are excited to see it become something profitable.
“It’s exciting. I think it’s going to be a fun project to watch see how it goes from where it is now to where it’s going to be,” Voss said.
Voss said Murphy should take possession of the jail within the next 45 days.