a luxurious bunker
An $18 Million Underground Home In Las Vegas Couldn't Find A Buyer. Now The Owner Is Trying Something New
A habitable bunker 26 feet below the ground in Las Vegas was on the market for five years and had its price slashed 67% — but landed no buyer.
The owners, a nonprofit called the Stasis Foundation that backs cryogenics research, originally listed the underground house for $18 million in 2019. Its price dropped several times to a low of $5.9 million.
Earlier this year, the foundation took it off the market and decided to take a different approach: show the bunker off to the world.
[Stephan Laforge]
The bunker was originally built in 1978 by Jerry Henderson, a businessman and director of cosmetics company Avon Products, who lived there with his wife, Mary.
The foundation took the home off the market earlier this year in order to apply to change its zoning from residential to mixed-use, which will allow it to turn the bunker into a tourist attraction.
[Stephan Laforge]
According to Dean Barry, executive director of the Stasis Foundation, part of the motivation for making the property mixed-use is because there is a one-bedroom apartment in the guesthouse where the security guard and maintenance employee lives. But there's far more to the property than meets the eye.
[Stephan Laforge]
The main level of the guesthouse would be used as a welcome center for guests.
[Stephan Laforge]
A staircase on the home's lower level leads 26 feet underground to a five-bedroom, six-bathroom bunker with a swimming pool.
[Stephan Laforge]
While you'd be hard-pressed to confuse the bunker's "outdoors" for the actual outdoors, it does offer the ability to change the lights from day to night settings.
[Stephan Laforge]
The home went into foreclosure in 2014 and sold for $1.15 million the same year.
The original buyer was listed as the Society for the Preservation of Near Extinct Species, but ownership was changed to the Stasis Foundation in 2020, according to Clark County property records.
[Stephan Laforge]
The property was once used as a "personal luxury bunker" for its owners, who occasionally visit for work or vacation, Stephan LaForge, the former listing agent when it was on the market from 2019 to February 2024, told BI in 2023.
[Stephan Laforge]
In addition to new air conditioning, water heater, and water lines, the bunker is fully outfitted with Wi-Fi and cellphone reception.
[Stephan Laforge]
Soon, it'll be shown to visitors for tours.
To see more photos of this luxurious bunker in Las Vegas, head to Business Insider.
