Mark Wahlberg buys land in wealthy Summerlin community

Mark Wahlberg has paid a fortune for a plot of land in a wealthy Las Vegas enclave, records indicate, raising the prospects that the movie star will build a big house in America’s casino capital.

The celebrity bought 2.5 acres in The Summit Club for $15.6 million, property records indicate. The sale, by former motorcycle racer Ben Bostrom, closed Friday.

Wahlberg bought vacant residential land at a price typically reserved for megamansions, albeit in an area of Las Vegas’ Summerlin community that has seen no shortage of high-priced deals.

Spanning 555 acres off Town Center Drive between Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road, The Summit Club features a golf course, custom-built homes and, its website declares, a “wealth” of amenities including “round-the-clock security.”

Wahlberg, whose movies include “The Fighter,” “The Departed” and “Boogie Nights,” purchased two adjacent lots, records show.

Efforts to reach Wahlberg or a representative for comment — including through his family’s burger chain, Wahlburgers, and his charity, The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation — were unsuccessful.

Bostrom had no comment at this time, said luxury real estate broker Zar Zanganeh, who noted the sellers have been repeat clients on other properties in Southern Nevada.

Zanganeh, managing partner of brokerage firm The Agency’s Las Vegas office, said the homesites Wahlberg purchased were not formally listed, but they were going to be on the market “for significantly more than what they sold for.”

He also said Wahlberg came close to buying an existing house in The Summit Club for more than $35 million but opted to acquire the two lots instead.

The most expensive home sale ever recorded in the Las Vegas Valley was in June 2021 when Anthony Hsieh, founder of mortgage firm LoanDepot, bought a newly built mansion in the Henderson foothills for $25 million.

The seller, luxury builder Tyler Jones of Blue Heron, previously confirmed that Hsieh leased the house back to the developer, allowing the firm to keep using it as a “show” home.

The three-story, 15,000-square-foot home came with two infinity saltwater pools, a glass wine-storage wall, a sky lounge, a DJ booth, seven fire features and an elevator, listing materials previously stated.

Just last month, a house in The Summit Club sold for nearly $19 million. Spanning 9,427 square feet, it boasts wood-beam ceilings, a golf simulator and a main bedroom with a “spa-like bathroom” that features an outdoor shower, listing materials stated.

Summerlin overall spans 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim, boasts 100,000-plus residents and commands some of the highest home and land prices in Southern Nevada. Empty homesites in The Summit Club in particular have fetched big money.

Lot sales there began closing in 2016, and a total of 202 lots had closed for $821.6 million through 2021, according to a securities filing by Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp., which partnered on The Summit Club with developer Discovery Land Co.

That amounts to an average of more than $4 million per lot.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.