Why Stars Like Mark Wahlberg Are Leaving Hollywood for ‘the Beverly Hills of Las Vegas’ (Exclusive)

The actor — who recently sold a $16.6 million townhouse at the exclusive Summit Club — relocated his wife and their four children to the Las Vegas area last year, where privacy and luxury abound

Stars like Mark Wahlberg aren't just heading to Las Vegas these days for a good time. Now, they're flocking to it — permanently.

Wahlberg just flipped a 7,327-sq.-ft. townhouse in Las Vegas’ exclusive residential community known as The Summit Club for $16.6 million after moving to the area with his family last year, according to documents obtained by the Las Vegas Review Journal and reviewed by PEOPLE. He had originally purchased the two-story property for $14.5 million.

But the Father Stu star, 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 told Today.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 Carter and Mike Tyson are 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.

Related: Mark Wahlberg Says His Family Is 'Happy' with Move to Las Vegas: 'Everyone's Adapted' (Exclusive)

Today, the exclusive community of Summerlin “is the Beverly Hills of Las Vegas” and akin to Scottsdale near Phoenix, says Summerlin realtor Michael 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 agent Gavin 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.

Inside the gated community are “incredible facilities,” Ernstone adds. “They have an amazing clubhouse that they just opened, their own purpose-built lakes that kids can go fishing in, a baseball field, and an incredible golf course that's members only and exclusive to residents." Homeowners are treated to stunning views of the nearby Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, and amenities include a hosted suite for events like Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium, where residents are ferried in private cars. “It's exclusivity,” underscores Ernstone.

Related: Mark Wahlberg Says He Used to Work Out for ‘Aesthetic,’ but ‘Now It’s More About Longevity’ (Exclusive)

The Summit Club is just one of the prestigious communities built by the Discovery Land Co., which boasts similarly fashioned destinations in locales including the Bahamas, Montana, Cabo San Lucas, Idaho and Hawaii. Some families even invest in homes across the developer's portfolio and hop between them, says Ernstone: “It's certainly a following amongst the ultra-wealthy and it's extremely exclusive."

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.

In October 2022, Wahlberg told The Talk he hoped to lobby for tax credits to "build a state-of-the-art studio here and make this Hollywood 2.0."

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."

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