What's Happening with Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah

What has happened to Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah?

Casa de Shenandoah, the 36-acre estate once owned by "Mr. Las Vegas," entertainer Wayne Newton and his wife Kathleen, was put on display in 2015 for public tours. By all accounts, it was a popular, successful, and profitable tourist attraction.

But in May 2018, less than three years after the tours started, Casa de Shenandoah was closed to the public. The reason given at the time was the need for “extensive maintenance, repairs, and renovation."

Then, a couple months later, on July 10, 2018, it was announced that the estate would be returned to a private residence, ending the tours for good. No reason was given.

By that time, however, the Newtons no longer owned the estate, which had been purchased for $18-plus million by a Texas businessman, Lacy Harber, who started the tours to pay the bills on the historic landmark. But the Newtons still ran the tours, apparently, up until July 2017, when Wayne was bitten by a spider and had to be hospitalized in critical condition.

The Newtons haven’t lived at the Casa ranch since 2013. They now live about a mile down the road.

At some point, Harber put the ranch, plus the property that housed the gift shop and theater across the street, up for sale. It all sold to a Portland, Oregon-based real-estate investment group, Harsch Investment Properties, a couple months ago for $10-plus million. No announcement has been made so far about what Harsch might plan for the property.

What has happened to Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah?

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Comments

Dave Nov-14-2019

Contents?

What about the contents?

There has been a recent news report that Wayne is currently suing to attempt to get back some of the memorabilia that is still there. What’s still there, and what’s the outlook?

rokgpsman Nov-14-2019

Newton estate

About a year before the estate tours ended I took the tour with some friends, it was in good condition from what I saw. The staff there was friendly and took the time to make our visit nice. We went thru many rooms of the main house, including upstairs, plus the large garage with some of his cars, the private airplane and the horse stables and the grounds with animals such as peacocks. I thought it was worth the price we paid. I think it is about 52 acres on S. Pecos Road, not all that far from the Strip.

rokgpsman Nov-14-2019

Newton estate

correction - the estate is about 40 acres size.

Deke Castleman Nov-14-2019

This in via email from Jeff

I don't recall reading that Wayne Newton ever had any business or financial role in the operation of Casa de Shenandoah as a tourist attraction. I don't think it ever made money, either. Wife and I went a couple years ago and enjoyed it tremendously, but business was very slow. 

I have read many stories over the last 15-20 years that would suggest Mr. Newton is just "not good with money," to put it gently.
 
* He lost ownership of the airplane due to unpaid repair and tarmac (parking) charges at an airport in Michigan. 
* He lost ownership of Casa de Shenandoah due to multiple notes and mortgages owned by the listed Texas businessman Lacy Harber, and others.
* He was unable to use live musicians during his last Strip showroom booking at the Tropicana, due to unpaid bills from prior Las Vegas shows that used union workers. Appears the union blocks use of union members going forward until old bills are caught up.   

These items are all from stories I have read on the R-J and Sun websites since 2001.

Because I can't readily remember where I read it, I will call it "rank speculation," but I think Newton has pledged all the contents of Casa de Shenandoah against loans that have foreclosed in the past. I'm guessing all parties involved know that, but are trying to keep it as quiet as possible to avoid bad publicity.

[email protected] Nov-14-2019

Horses?

When I visited in 2017 (wonderful tour, by the way) even though they told us that Wayne no longer owned the property, all of his beautiful Arabian horses were still there.  We got to tour the barns, see a mare work at liberty, and a gelding swim in the pool.  After I mentioned to the tour guide that I had seen Aramus at the stables of a friend when Wayne still owned him in partnership, he took us to see Aramus's grave.  It also was cool to see so many of that great horses descendants on the property.

So my question - what has happened to all the horses?  Are they still there, or did they have to be moved somewhere else?  

They also mentioned that Mr. Newton was able to retain all the water rights on the property because of his American Indian heritage.  Are those rights lost if he's no longer involved in the property?

Question of the Day - 14 November 2019

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