Blockchains CEO buys “unfinished masterpiece” mansion for $25M

A firm tied to Blockchains founder Jeffrey Berns has picked up a 16-acre estate with a partially built 37,500-square-foot mansion in Spring Valley for $25 million.

STLV Properties, led by Berns out of his Blockchains headquarters in Sparks, bought the compound at 99 Spanish Gate Drive in the unincorporated town west of the Las Vegas Strip, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The seller was Jefri Bolkiah, prince of Brunei.

The 110,300-square-foot compound has 10 buildings, with numerous guest houses and pools. The estate has 25 beds and 48 baths, according to Zillow.

The price works out to $227 per square foot.

The centerpiece is the unfinished five-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion, which features entertainment, billiards and music rooms, plus another room dedicated to clothes and jewelry. 

There’s also a 47,400-square-foot athletic club and pool house, plus an indoor badminton and squash court. A garage holds 16 cars, with parking for 30 more outside.

In 2007, the late music superstar Michael Jackson moved into Bolkiah’s compound, according to the  Review-Journal.

When the property was listed in October, upscale agent Ivan Sher of IS Luxury told the newspaper the property was “an unfinished masterpiece.”

Michele Sullivan of Douglas Elliman of Nevada represented the buyer.

An unidentified developer broke ground on the estate in 1996, and the compound is reportedly 90 percent complete. It hasn’t had any work done on it since 1999, Sher said in a previous interview.

Berns, founder and CEO of Blockchains, once practiced as a consumer rights attorney whose firm led class-action lawsuits with settlements of more than $2 billion. He also owns GenuBank, formerly Kirkwood Bank of Nevada, based in Las Vegas.

— Dana Bartholomew

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