NORM CLARKE'S VEGAS DIARY

View Original

WHAT’S UP WITH STEVE WYNN’S LATEST MOVES?

Steve Wynn and his wife Andrea, at Wynn Las Vegas, April, 2016. Photo: Norm Clarke

Curious minds want to know what’s up with Steve Wynn and his newly renovated Las Vegas home, his oceanfront estate purchase near President Trump’s winter White House and rumors he wants to sell his superyacht.

Is the one-time king of Las Vegas leaving the city he helped transform into the tourist paradise it has become, or shifting his base of operation to Florida?

I hear he recently completed major upgrades on the suburban mansion he paid $13 million for in early 2018, after accusations of sexual misconduct toppled him from his hotel and casino empire.

There are signs the billionaire casino developer plans to move to Palm Beach, Florida. In August there were media reports that a firm connected to Wynn purchased a 24,600-square foot oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach for $43 million. Court records showed the buyer is 1960 LLC, representing a Las Vegas company tied to Wynn’s Wynn Fine Art. That fits with reports he has plans to reinvent himself as an art dealer.

The Palm Beach residence is in the same neighborhood as President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, known as the winter White House. Wynn was hand-picked by Trump to be finance chair of the Republican National Committee in 2017 after Wynn served as vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, which raised close to $100 million.

It was reported last month that Wynn’s beloved superyacht, the Aquarius, is on the sales block for $215 million. Wynn and the luxury yacht are regulars on the French Riviera, St. Bart’s and, more recently, off Miami. It includes six V.I.P. suites, a helipad, and a beauty salon

Last week he was included in a class action lawsuit that alleged he was part of a hostile work environment. He resigned as CEO and chairman in February 2018 after the scandal erupted.

He has denied the allegations.

Executives at the company he co-founded have proposed he be banned from the resorts that bear his name.

Wynn, 77, moved to Las Vegas in 1967 from Maryland with his wife, Elaine. He parlayed part-ownership in a wine and liquor importing company into modest stakes in mid-sized Strip properties and is credited with the resurgence of Las Vegas with such projects as The Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas and its sister property, Encore.