Mark Zuckerberg's Secret Lake Tahoe Compound

Back in 2018 and 2019 the Wall Street Journal was the first to ‘unravel’ the layers of Mark Zuckerberg’s lowkey acquisition of two estates on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore.

The purchase came under the shroud of a newly created (at the time) shell company called Golden Range LLC. It included two adjacent beach front properties near Sunnyside-Tahoe City for a total of $59 million.

The two combined properties include over 10 acres of land and 600 feet of beachfront property. One of them, the Brushwood Estate, was acquired from a San Francisco philanthropist, Tamara Fritz, that hosted the Oscar de la Renta fashion show. The other was bought from the family of deceased investment banker Robert Quist, the Carousel Estate.

The two estates were bought merely weeks apart in December 2018 and January 2019.

Using new satellite images and records from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), the SFGATE was able to determine the underlying plan of Zuckerberg and his team.

2024 satellite images show that the three original cabins on the Carousel Estate have been torn down, despite restrictions that bar the demolition of ‘historic buildings.’ The cabins were originally built in 1930.

According to the SFGATE, the TRPA gave Golden Range LLC the green light to demolish the buildings because “the structures have undergone a series of additions and modifications over time which have significantly impacted the historic integrity of the property and therefore are viewed to not be of significance.”

These renovations were finished in the 50s and 70s, which disqualified the buildings from protection.

SFGATE reported that new plans have been approved by the TRPA that will include seven new buildings across the 10 acres, with the largest being a 20,000 square foot mansion that towers 35 feet high.

The compound is also planning for a bunkhouse, gym, guest house, office, the construction of trails, bridges, fire pits, and stone walkways.

As you could imagine, the internet is having a field day with this news.

Mark Zuckerberg is building a sprawling compound on the Lake Tahoe shore
by u/jakemontero in tahoe

“Where is this mofo NOT building a sprawling compound????” commented a Reddit user.

“Dude got special permission to tear down a historic house? Wonder how much money he threw at the folks who approved that,” said another.

Someone else pointed out that Tahoe should’ve been and very well could’ve been a national park, but now more and more land is being developed which is causing a slew of issues for residents and visitors.

In the late 1800s, John Muir was a catalyst in the push to make a Tahoe national park because of the devastating effects of the timber trade. A bill was introduced to Congress in 1900 that proposed to make the whole Tahoe Basin a national park, but it was stalled by the powerful businesses that made a killing off raw materials from the area.