COMPOUND INTEREST
FOR THOSE WHO WANT PRIVACY, PROTECTION, AND ABOVE ALL, PRESTIGE, SEVERAL BARRIERS TO ENTRY ARE BETTER THAN ONE. TRY AND KEEP UP WITH THE JONESES—IF YOU CAN SEE OVER THEIR FOURTH SECURITY WALL.
For those who want privacy, protection, and above all, prestige, several barriers to entry are better than one. Try and keep up with the Joneses—if you can see over their fourth security wall.
When living in a guard gated community just isn’t private enough, a few select developments offer enhanced levels of security that can involve passing through up to four gates before residents arrive home —enough to provide even Tony Soprano with a feeling of sanctuary.
Each of the distinct neighborhoods in The Ridges of Summerlin includes a separate gate but just one, Promontory, has an extra-exclusive enclave called Promontory Point with a third access gate, beyond which dozens of homeowners have installed their own (number four) private security barrier.
This trend of creating increasingly deep obstacles to residences connotes a higher level of exclusivity, according to Ivan Sher, principal in Shapiro & Sher Group Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices, Nevada Properties (shapiroandsher.bhhsnv.com). “It’s like the American Express Platinum versus American Express Centurion. They both get you pretty much what you need, but that Centurion card offers a little bit more prestige,” he explains. “A lot of people feel that having the extra set of gates is a higher level of security but even more so, a higher level of prestige.”
These fourth-gate owners are typically casino executives, celebrities and politicians who value their privacy above all, Sher says. “They will never say ‘I want a third gate,’ but they will tell me, ‘Security is of the utmost importance.’ Aside from the privacy aspect, security seems to be the number-one concern for the
ultra-wealthy right now. They’re looking to be in an area where they have the best possible protection and surveillance, privacy, all of it.”
Henderson’s newest luxury community, Ascaya (ascaya.com), plans to offer four privately gated enclaves with between five to fifteen lots each, some of which could be combined, says Darin Marques, sales manager.
Macdonald Highlands has four communities with a second private gate. Just south of The Ridges, The Summit Club (luxuryhomes lasvegas.com), a joint venture between The Howard Hughes Corporation and Discovery Land Company, will also offer exclusively gated neighborhoods.
Another option for these buyers is a compound with multiple residences on a large piece of land that is typically gated, private, and individually owned, said Sher. “It’s just starting, but I’m seeing very wealthy people who have strong nuclear-style families looking to build estates where their kids are either on the property or nearby in their own residences. These 20,000-squarefeet estates are being built on multiple acres so that the kids and parents can live in the same area yet have their privacy. That’s something I’ve seen for those who can afford it,” he says.
Several are listed for sale here and there across the valley, but a buyer who wants a newer compound would need to either find one of the large parcel options dotting suburban Las Vegas or choose a community offering multiple-acre lots and build their own, he says.
Buyers from California often conclude that moving to Las Vegas to build a large home with land makes the most sense. “The land and the cost of building in Nevada versus California is huge,” Sher says, pointing out most will save 13 percent on income taxes annually. “If you take people making tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year, in a few years you’ve save a significant portion of the cost of building the house.”