Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long vacationed on the shores of Lake Tahoe, and now he’s building a colossal compound there.

The billionaire, who has spent years enjoying the Northern California resort town with wife Priscilla and their children, shared a video Thursday of his own personal Fourth of July celebration.

Set to Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born in the USA,” the video shows Zuckerberg on a hydrofoil while dressed in a full tuxedo, holding an American flag, and sipping from a can of Coors.

In 2018 and 2019, the tech mogul scooped up two properties in the area for a combined $59 million. He also owns multiple homes in Palo Alto, CA, and Hawaii.

The deals were closed quietly and hidden behind limited liability corporations and other entities, according to the Wall Street Journal.

His 2018 purchase was the “Carousel Estate” on Tahoe’s West Shore for $22 million. The “quintessential” lakefront estate offers “ultimate privacy” with 3.5 level acres, about 200 feet of lake frontage, a marina-style pier, and old-growth trees on an expansive waterfront lawn, according to past listing details.

The property included an eight-bedroom main house, a three-bedroom guesthouse, and a garage for each house. It also had a caretaker apartment over the second garage.

A year later, Zuckerberg picked up the adjacent 6-acre property for $37 million, records show.

Known as the “Brushwood Estate,” it includes roughly 400 feet of lake frontage and a private pier with a boat hoist. The past listing details boasted that the home had hosted “many prestigious events,” including a fashion show and the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival.

The listing also noted that the property had only “4 owners over its 100 plus history” and pondered who might acquire the legacy property next.

Well, it’s long been known that Zuckerberg picked up the Tahoe mantle. However, it appears he has big plans for the properties.

The Carousel Estate home has already been razed, and plans are reportedly in place for a sprawling compound of nearly 10 acres. The plans include a “20,000-square-foot, 35-foot-tall main residence with a timber and glass facade,” along with “a new bunkhouse, a gym, a gatehouse, multiple guesthouses, and offices,” according to Forbes.
The original home on the “Carousel Estate” has been razed to make way for a new compound of nearly 10 acres.

(Courtesy of Tahoe Luxury Properties)

The compound will include nature trails, walkways, and additional development.

Once Zuckerberg made those deals, the floodgates appeared to open for pricey real estate sales in the popular vacation hub, Forbes noted. The area is “booming.”

Other tech execs followed suit, “with over 30% of new buyers being from the tech industry,” Forbes said. “While new buyers are entering the market, old money is departing the area, taking advantage of the huge investment returns.”

A reporter from the San Francisco Standard spoke with locals close to Zuckerberg’s properties, now a construction site, to find out how they’re feeling about their new neighbor.

Stephen Finn, who lives two doors down, seems happy about the work.

“He’s a great neighbor,” says Finn. “The family’s wonderful. They’re doing a thoughtful, thorough job. That old place was falling apart.”

A spokesperson for the Zuckerberg family, Brandi Hoffine Barr, told the Standard: “Mark and Priscilla enjoy spending time with family and friends at their home on Lake Tahoe. The planned construction will maintain Tahoe’s unique local architectural style and care is being taken to avoid significant disruption in the neighborhood.”

But not everyone seems happy about Zuckerberg—and other tech executives—moving in.

Fire Sign Cafe manager and King’s Beach homeowner Sabrina Burge tells the Standard she worries that wealthy people buying up vacation properties will price out locals, calling it “a spiral effect.”

She adds that many of these places stay empty for most of the year.

“It’s terrible,” Burge says. “It’s not good for the local economy; we have a huge lull in the off-season.”