Yes, we’re all just a bit excited about the opening of that highly touted little flick known as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” But how does a galaxy far, far away tie in with today’s real estate market?
We scoured the land for homes for sale promoting “Star Wars” decorative themes, but turned up only a single brightly colored bedroom in a Kissimmee, FL, home.
Left longing for more, we dug ever deeper into the listings. Fortunately, the Force was with us. We were delighted to find a small development in Las Vegas, NV with street names inspired by the classic film.
East of the bright lights of the Strip, drive about 10 minutes past the airport and hang a left onto a residential block with the auspicious (and spunky!) name of Leia Street. From there, you’ll see familiar names pop up on successive street signs. Your journey continues on Kinobe (sic) Avenue, then takes you through Vader Avenue, Tarkin Avenue, and, of course, Skywalker Avenue.
The homes were built in 1979, two years after the release of the beloved movie and right about the time Las Vegas was beginning to blast into housing hyperdrive, according to Mark Hall-Patton, the museum administrator for the Clark County Museum system.
“In 1979, the city was right at the beginning of a huge housing boom,” says Hall-Patton. “There are quite a few interesting street name themes that run throughout the city, but this particular development coincided with a time when housing was really taking off. Truth is, many developers were running out of ideas for good street names.”
Hall-Patton wrote a book about the street names of Las Vegas and doubts any buyer would plunk down extra cash to live out a “Star Wars” lifestyle. “The influence of street names on buyers is minimal,” says the author of “Asphalt Memories.”
Confirming the historian’s theory, we spoke with agent Joe Memelo, who recently repped a buyer who purchased a $185,000 home on Kinobe Avenue. Memelo was a bit surprised by our interest in a home that closed in August, calling the homes on the “Star Wars” streets “just an average, normal neighborhood.”
Memelo adds that the neighborhood is considered older, and “no one is clamoring” to set up their own personal cantina there.
And even if a prospective home buyer did succumb to a frenzy of fandom, there are currently no homes to be had on the streets named for Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, or Princess Leia.
Which means a buyer may have to settle for homes on the street named for the oh-so-evil Grand Moff Tarkin. While the character was a true villain, the sedate homes for sale on Tarkin Avenue bear no markings of the man who blew up Alderaan.
Agent Evelyn Grimes, who has the listing for the four-bedroom home on Tarkin Avenue, says the neighborhood is “extremely well-kept.” Located in a gated community, this small group of 16 houses was tacked on to the neighborhood in 1998.
While the original neighborhood built in the late ’70s is “a bit of a hodgepodge,” Grimes says, the homes in this gated addition are all on larger lots and protected by an HOA. So if you wanted to add your own Death Star to your decor, we’re guessing you’d face a fate worse than the Galactic Empire: the HOA board.
