Buyers pay millions for empty homesites in wealthy Summerlin encalve

Buyers are paying big bucks for this Summerlin dirt.

Developers of the Summit Club closed at least a dozen sales of homesites in the wealthy enclave’s new section over the past few years, selling them for around $134 million combined, property records show.

The developers sold 20 acres total in the suburban Las Vegas outpost, meaning the buyers collectively paid an average of $6.7 million per acre just for empty lots — and the new owners would still have to build their own homes.

Switch founder Rob Roy purchased the biggest plot and paid by far the highest price: The data-center developer picked up a 5-acre homesite for $33 million in spring 2023, property records indicate.

All told, this new area of the Summit Club spans more than 50 acres on the western edge of the Las Vegas Valley and is poised to have a fleet of custom-built mansions at some point. No homes were built as of last month, aerial imagery shows.

Discovery Land Co. and Howard Hughes Holdings, the developers behind the Summit Club, both declined to comment, as did Switch.

‘Comfort stations’

The Summit Club, off Town Center Drive south of Flamingo Road in the Summerlin master-planned community, spans more than 600 acres total. It is packed with mansions and other upscale homes and has drawn such buyers as movie star Mark Wahlberg.

The guard-gated enclave boasts a luxury clubhouse with fine dining and other features; an “Outdoor Pursuits” team that helps residents explore the region; and an 18-hole golf course with “comfort stations” loaded with snacks.

Summerlin overall spans 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim and boasts 130,000 residents, as well as parks, trails, community centers and some of the highest home prices in Southern Nevada.

Texas-based Howard Hughes Holdings, as Summerlin’s developer is now known, announced in 2014 that it was partnering with Arizona-based Discovery Land on a then-555-acre project that would be Summerlin’s “most exclusive luxury community.”

The empty homesites fetched big money. By the end of 2021, a total of 202 lots in the Summit Club had sold for almost $822 million combined, or an average of more than $4 million per lot, according to a securities filing.

Expansion site

In summer 2022, Summerlin’s developer announced a deal with Discovery Land to expand their project, saying it contributed an additional 50-plus of land for more than two dozen custom-home sites.

A few weeks later, Clark County commissioners approved plans for 28 single-family lots on nearly 58 acres. According to a county staff report, the project essentially marked the last phase of the Summit Club.

Property records indicate the developers started closing sales of homesites in this new section in March 2023, and the first deal was a lucrative one: $13.5 million for a 1.8-acre plot.

Overall, the developers closed eight sales in the expansion section in 2023, followed by two more in 2024 and another two this year, property records show.

Collectively, the buyers paid $134.4 million for these lots.

Celebrity deals

The Summit Club has drawn big-name buyers over the years.

Raiders owner Mark Davis purchased a condo there in 2021 for $5.3 million and sold it in 2023 for $10.5 million.

Wahlberg, who moved to Las Vegas a few years ago and has been a visible presence in America’s casino capital, has been especially busy in the Summit Club, buying and selling multiple properties.

He purchased 2.5 acres of land there in 2022 for $15.6 million. The next month, he bought a two-story townhome, spanning more than 7,000 square feet, in the community for $14.5 million.

Property records indicate — and published accounts say — that he also purchased a single-family house, spanning 8,400-plus square feet, in the Summit Club for more than $21 million in 2023.

He sold the townhome for around $16.6 million soon after he bought the other house.

Late last year, he sold his land in the Summit Club for more than $17 million after he pursued plans to build a custom house that never came out of the ground.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.