Wayne Newton’s former compound in Las Vegas, one of the most iconic properties in town, is slated to be turned into a new housing tract.
Luxury homebuilder Blue Heron has drawn up plans to develop a 77-lot subdivision on the roughly 39.5-acre site formerly known as Casa de Shenandoah, at the southwest corner of Sunset and Pecos roads.
The proposal calls for one- and two-story single-family homes, each spanning more than 2,000 square feet, and for keeping an existing man-made lake that gets refilled by a private well, Clark County records show.
Also, the property is enclosed by perimeter walls that have “been in place for decades and are intended to remain,” according to a letter to county officials last month from a representative for Blue Heron.
The Clark County Commission is scheduled to consider the plans on Oct. 21, records show.
Overall, the development would bring waves of new houses inside the walls of a property that can be seen from above when flying into Las Vegas and is still widely associated with Newton, the legendary Vegas crooner who hasn’t owned the site, or lived there, for years.
Jetway to a Fokker F28
Located about a mile from the edge of Harry Reid International Airport, the sprawling ranch property at 6629 S. Pecos Road has open grounds and an opulent main house.
It also features horse barns with dozens of stalls; zoo facilities that housed penguins, monkeys and other animals; riding rings; and a mini terminal with a jetway to a Fokker F28 aircraft on display, according to marketing materials.
Those materials call the property Smoketree Ranch. However, the ornate, decorative display at the corner of Sunset and Pecos, facing the intersection, complete with giant gold leaves and galloping horses on the wall, calls it Sunset Springs Ranch.
Las Vegas-based Blue Heron declined to comment.
The property owners, who own the site through an entity called Smoketree Group, could not be reached for comment.
Newton started performing in Las Vegas when he was just 15, according to his official bio, and he has spent decades as a headliner, performing a reported 30,000-plus solo shows in Las Vegas alone.
Known as Mr. Las Vegas, the 84-year-old entertainer still plays at the Flamingo. Throughout his career, he also performed at long-gone haunts such as the Desert Inn, the Frontier and the Sands.
He also built an expansive compound.
‘Memories and love for Shenandoah’
Newton, who moved to Las Vegas in 1959, purchased the first five acres of his estate in 1966 and went on to buy more land and build numerous structures on-site, the Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported.
In 1973, for instance, a permit application was submitted to Clark County for outdoor lighting for the tennis court.
It listed Wayne Newton as the owner — and his mailing address as the Sands Hotel.
Newton and his wife, Kathleen, sold the property in 2010, according to court filings and property records. The Review-Journal reported that they moved out in 2013 while a group of investors set out to open an attraction called Wayne Newton’s Casa de Shenandoah, which debuted in 2015 but closed in 2018.
The current property owners acquired the site in 2019 for around $5.6 million, records show.
About a month after the sale closed, the Newtons filed a lawsuit in a dispute over the animals, memorabilia and other possessions the couple had kept at the property, court records show.
By 2020, the name Casa de Shenandoah had been removed from the display facing passersby at Sunset and Pecos, and by 2022, the name Sunset Springs Ranch was up.
The owners have tried to sell the site over the years, with the property’s website showing a price tag of $31.35 million.
When the property was up for sale in 2020 at nearly $30 million, the Review-Journal reported, the famous former owner said he never sold his “memories and love for Shenandoah.”
He added: “I took those with me.”
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
