With Graceland West plans dead, Wayne Newton ranch relists at huge markdown of $40 million (new photos)
We have good news and bad news for Wayne Newton fans.
The bad news: Plans for a Graceland-style Newtonian tourist attraction at Casa de Shenandoah -- the Las Vegas ranch that he designed himself, and that housed the entertainer and his family for nearly 50 years -- are officially dead.
The good news: The compound is back on the market. And for that we say "danke schoen," because we're finally getting to glimpse the interior of the mansion. Its sunken living room alone is a sight to behold; you can just practically hear the ice cubes rattling in cut-crystal lowball glasses clutched by Newton's buddies Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Other celebs, Rat Pack and otherwise, also partied at Casa de Shenandoah. Ronald and Nancy Reagan were visitors too. (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow.)
It's "one of the most historic homes in Las Vegas," the listing agent told Yahoo Homes unabashedly. (OK, a little abashedly: He conceded with a laugh that Vegas isn't exactly long on historic properties.) Peacocks still roam the grounds, left over from Newton's menagerie of penguins, sloths, wallabies and more. The animal enclosures remain, should a buyer wish to assemble a zoo of his own.
Plus, the owner has knocked $40 million off the original asking price -- a markdown of more than 50 percent.
The compound had been listed a year ago for $70 million, then discounted to $48 million, then taken off the market this spring. Now it's $30 million, which would leave the owner with a "considerable loss," the listing agent, Dale Thornburgh of Synergy Sotheby's International Realty, told Yahoo Homes.
Wayne Newton sold his lifelong dream home for $19.5 million in 2010, yet remained legally enmeshed with it because he owned part of the company that bought it. Texas businessman Lacy Harber was the main partner, and apparently intended to work with Newton and his wife to establish a sort of Graceland West where the couple and their young daughter would continue to live.
But the plans fell apart. As recently as March of last year, Newton and his family were insisting that they would not leave; three months later, though, they were packing up, having bought a smaller compound about a mile away.
The Texas businessman who was their partner now has "clear title" to Newton's longtime home, Thornburgh told Yahoo Homes, and poured at least $15 million into renovations like a colorful Bellagio-style fountain -- timed to piped-in music, of course -- with the hope of attracting a buyer interested in a Graceland West-style vision. He finally, reluctantly abandoned that hope, Thornburgh said, and now just wants to "get it sold."
The listing confirms as much: "Owner says sell this year."
Click here or on an image for a slideshow of Wayne Newton's longtime home, Casa de Shenandoah.
And here's what it looked like when he still lived there:
