Once slated to be $7M condos for remote workers, Tahoe development is an empty lot

It was supposed to be a housing development aimed at providing a high-end experience for C-suite residents in Tahoe's Incline Village. Now, it sits on the market once more as an empty lot and a dream yet to be realized.

Pitched as a new way to get a toehold into one of Tahoe's wealthiest communities, Nine 47 Tahoe was a 40-unit condo complex that sought to raise the bar for luxury living spaces.

The relatively modest condos, once complete, would range from 1,525 to 4,171 square feet, with a proposed price tag between $2.5 million and $7 million. While that may sound like starter home square footage (but not necessarily starter home pricing), consider the fact that getting into the market in Incline Village can be tricky and out of reach for the vast majority of prospective homebuyers. Right now, in close proximity to the Nine 47 footprint, there are two properties currently listed for more than $40 million.

"Introducing Nine 47 Tahoe, 40 mountain modern residences located in tax-friendly Nevada," the development's website reads. "Elevate your lifestyle with effortless elegance, unparalleled year-round adventure, and exclusive access to Incline Village homeowner amenities."

But at the moment, the project is stalled and in limbo until a new buyer comes around.

Incline Village has had a short but relatively eventful lifespan. It was spun up as a planned community built by a couple of Oklahoma-based developers, who took a 9,000-acre swath out of George Whittell's forest in the halcyon 1960s.

They sought to create a year-round golf, beach, gambling and skiing destination on the Nevada side of North Lake Tahoe, a kind of Palm Springs-meets Vegas-meets-Aspen fusion. But instead of a robust and sought-after respite, Incline remained stagnant and sleepy for much of the last half of the 20th century along with the first couple decades of this one.

By the start of the 2020s, however, that all changed. Incline became known as the go-to escape from city life in an ideal tax-friendly environment led by members of the tech billionaire class who had begun to purchase homes, along with notable local businesses, here.

Suddenly, some of the world's richest men began buying up parcels, and the secret was out that it's a place to live and work year-round while a good portion of your money remains in your bank account.

In recent years, those who sell places in Incline have marketed the tax benefits of Nevada as much, if not more so, than the actual features and amenities of the homes themselves. Nine 47 was no exception: "Ownership at Nine 47 opens the door to Nevada's enviable tax incentives," the website says, adding that they include no state income tax, no inheritance or estate tax, no business tax and lower property taxes. "No wonder the affluent are drawn to this village in the sky. It's your haven of financial protection now, and for your future."

The proposed development occupied a compact yet desirable infill 2-acre lot on the corner of Tahoe and Southwood boulevards, along the main drag that runs through Incline. It sits near a few of the town's highlights, including the Raley's shopping center, buzzy dining destination Rosewood, T's Mesquite Rotisserie and Alibi Ale Works.

Prior to being slated for redevelopment, the lot was most recently home to the popular Nine 41 Eatery & Bar, which was housed in one of Incline's original structures, an angular midcentury single-story gem with ample outdoor seating and signature "Jetsons"-inspired signage.

But the restaurant closed, the building eventually came down, and in a joint venture between local developers Palcap FFIF LLC and Greenwood Homes, the Nine 47 Tahoe project set out to build new condos on the coveted lot. The original permit for the project was approved by the Governing Board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on June 28, 2023, records show. TRPA spokesperson Jeff Cowen told SFGATE via email on Tuesday that the agency approved an extended timeline for the project last fall.

The permit is currently set to expire in October 2028, unless the project breaks ground before that date, Cowen said. In other words, all the permitting is still in place if a new buyer wants to continue with the plans to build the high-end condos.

SFGATE reached out to the original developers at Nine 47 through their web portal for comment but did not hear back before the time of publication.

While permits appear to be still at the ready for someone to begin the ambitious project, no ground is currently being moved, and no structures are being built on the lot at the moment. Hopes were once high that this project would house a new generation of remote workers who wished to move to Lake Tahoe. With the development in limbo, that future is in question.

Sue Lowe, the president and corporate broker for Chase International, said in 2022 that Tahoe needed luxury condos to meet the demand driven by remote tech workers during the height of the pandemic. "People have changed their mindset on what's important in their life since COVID so we're seeing a tremendous amount of second-home buyers and a lot of permanent buyers we haven't seen in the past but can now work from home going forward, especially in the tech sector," Lowe told the Reno Gazette-Journal at the time.

Those hopes have faltered. As work life gradually shifted back to the office, an infusion of workers who had made haste from places like the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe retreated back to the metro centers to continue their careers.

Now, projects like Nine 47 Tahoe are sitting in limbo.

Reno-based real estate agent Amanda Eastwick of Cushman & Wakefield acquired the listing last summer and maintains that the window is still open for a developer to take over Nine 47 and build the condos.

The whole bundle can be yours for $8.9 million, or just a little more than one of the proposed 40 high-end condos.

Incline Village remains a strong proposition, Eastwick told SFGATE. Housing values back her up. This spring, home prices were up 47.8% compared with the same three-month period in 2025, according to Redfin's most recent statistics. The median price of a home in Incline Village is about $1.8 million.

"The fact that the project has TRPA approvals and the ability to develop for sale residential condominiums in the heart of Incline Village make this an incredibly rare opportunity," Eastwick wrote SFGATE in an email. "A buyer is getting a project that has been substantially derisked. A buyer is able to begin site work quickly and submit for the building permit when they are ready."

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.