Casino mogul Wynn to sell Tahoe estate

Wednesday, April 29, 1998 | 5:34 a.m.

Cristina Van Dyck of Chase International, the company handling the sale of the five-acre estate, said Wynn has decided to sell because he's so busy with major Las Vegas projects.

Van Dyck added Wynn "is very involved with the Las Vegas community and his Las Vegas projects, such as the new Bellagio casino, and is finding it unfortunate that he is not able to spend as much time at Lake Tahoe as he would like to."

While Wynn wants to sell the 12,000-square-foot residence he has owned since 1993, that won't affect his status as a member of the California-Nevada Tahoe Regional Planning Agency board.

TRPA spokeswoman Pam Drum said that as an at-large board member, Wynn doesn't have to live in the Lake Tahoe area to hold his board position.

Wynn's home is one of many "trophy homes" owned by millionaires and billionaires in this increasingly exclusive resort town - nicknamed "Income Village" because of the presence of so much wealth.

As Wynn and others bought their homes, often paying top dollar for prime lakefront sites, valuations throughout the community have soared and other, less-affluent neighbors have found themselves with nightmarish tax bills.

And gated driveways, security lights and cameras at the big homes - built after smaller, older houses were demolished - have changed the feel of a community where some longtime residents hadn't bothered to lock their doors.

Besides Wynn, others who have bought in at Incline in recent years include former junk-bond king Michael Milken and, most recently, a firm headed by PeopleSoft Inc. chief David Duffield bought in.

Earlier arrivals included Milken colleague Warren Trepp, developer Kern Schumacher and construction magnate Les Busick.

Trepp alone bought seven homes in 1987 and demolished them to build one 8,000-square-foot residence. The homes of Milken and Wynn, longtime friends, are separated by Schumacher's estate.