Home improvement is expensive — and relative — so when your house cost $37 million, adding a home office and gym might run about $2.4 million.
At least that’s what it’s costing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Dr. Priscilla Chan to upgrade one of their two neighboring Lake Tahoe estates.
The building permits for a home office ($1 million), electric service ($523,101) and lakeside gym ($796,042) were listed in Placer County for commercial buildings for their Brushwood Estate on the west shore.
That “commercial” designation, along with the home office, made us wonder whether this was something Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: META) was developing.
It’s not.
“The construction on Mark and Priscilla's home in Lake Tahoe is residential, not commercial, and we are not building anything on behalf of Meta,” said Brandi Hoffine Barr, a personal spokeswoman for the couple, via email. "Our team is checking to see why the construction is showing up as commercial through Placer County records."
The work is being performed by by SierraCon Inc. of South Lake Tahoe, which didn’t return calls or email seeking comment.
Five years ago, the Facebook founder and current Meta CEO, along with his wife, bought two neighboring lakeside estates along the west shore of Lake Tahoe.
In late 2018, they paid $22 million for the Carousel Estate on 3.5 acres at 2340 Sunnyside Lane, and in early 2019, they paid $37 million for the Brushwood Estate on 6 acres at 2360 Sunnyside Lane. The properties are south of Tahoe City in Placer County.
Before its sale, Brushwood Estate was known as the home of designer Oscar de la Renta’s annual fashion shows to raise money for Lake Tahoe conservation. The property was originally listed in late 2017 for $45 million.
Brushwood includes an 11,000-square-foot main home with eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, 400 feet of shoreline on the lake, a private pier and boat hoist and a 2,500-square-foot guest home with two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms.
The Carousel property includes a 6,331-square-foot home built in 1930 with nine bedrooms and a lake pier.
