Mark Wahlberg.Photo:Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Stars likeMark Wahlbergaren’t just heading to Las Vegas these days for a good time. Now, they’re flocking to it — permanently.
But theFather Stustar, 52, remains in Las Vegas after his news-making sale.
“When we decided to move [to Las Vegas], we wanted to move before school started, so we moved into a temporary place and we now moved into another place,” Wahlberg toldToday.com. “The plan was always to build not only a studio but a family home. We just moved from one house to another.”
“You have Las Vegas, and people think automatically, ‘Oh, the Strip.’ But [in] Nevada, there are wonderful communities,” he continued. “I live in a wonderful community that’s really faith-based, great schools. There’s much more to Las Vegas than the Strip.”
Celine Dion,Nicolas Cage,Nick CarterandMike Tysonare among bold-faced names who have long lived in Vegas, where Nevada’s state income tax benefits, low crime and light traffic are particularly advantageous — and a lack of paparazzi doesn’t hurt.
Today, the exclusive community of Summerlin “is the Beverly Hills of Las Vegas” and akin to Scottsdale near Phoenix, says Summerlin realtorMichael Bondi. “It’s where all the celebrities have houses. It has that affluent feel to it.”
And areas like The Summit Club — the newest luxury development in the area where Wahlberg sold his townhouse — are particularly desirable, adds luxury real estate agentGavin Ernstone.
Just a 20-minute drive from the world-class entertainment of the Las Vegas Strip, The Summit Club is a 555-acre private community offering a premium lifestyle that has attracted sports stars, celebrities and the ultra-wealthy. One of its key offerings afforded to residents is “very, very high level of security, the highest you’ll see,” says Ernstone.
Wahlberg told PEOPLE in April that his family “loved Vegas" and that his four kids were settling in nicely after only six months. The Oscar-nominated actor and his wife, Rhea Durham, are parents to Ella, 19, Michael, 16, Brendan, 14, and Grace, 13.
“Mind-boggling” growth in the area has also incentivized California-based companies like Google and Amazon to make the move, creating scarcity of residential land to build on, says Bondi.
Las Vegas could even become a production hub like Atlanta in coming years, thanks to a bill sitting before the Nevada legislature that would green-light the development of a motion picture studio just a five-minute drive from communities like The Summit Club. Sony Entertainment and a local developer have “already come up with a plan to build a 58-acre studio," says Bondi.
Overall, Wahlberg said he aimed to give his children a higher quality of life with the move.
“So to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams — whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer — this made a lot more sense for us,” he explained. “There’s lots of opportunity here. I’m really excited about the future.”
source: people.com
