Home & Garden TV has taken over the penthouse suite at Las Vegas Country Club's Regency Tower for the cable network's reality show "Design Star."
A group of aspiring designers moved into 28G this month for six weeks of filming.
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The 10,000-square-foot unit will undergo a renovation worth about $250,000, said Nico Santucci, who oversees the property for an Armenian partner who prefers to stay under the radar.
"Other than Copperfield's in New York, there's never been anything of that scale with the view and floor-to-ceiling glass and an uncomparable panoramic view," Santucci said.
Currently unlisted, the penthouse unit doubled in size several years ago when Santucci and his partner combined units formerly owned by Irwin Molasky and Fran and Mac McDonald.
The penthouse was listed at $8.9 million about three years ago after reports that Michael Jackson used it as a hide-out.
One of the more stunning features, the indoor swimming pool, is being converted into a sunken living room, said Santucci, who also owns Capo's Restaurant and the Parisian Palace, site of the "Supergroup" reality show a year ago.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
A week ago, the odds of UNLV going all the way in the NCAA basketball tournament stood at 100-1. Sunday's upset of fourth-seeded Wisconsin moved the Rebels up to 10-1 to win it all at the Bellagio sports and race book. Defending champion Florida is the favorite at 2-1. Kansas is 5-2; Ohio State, 3-1; North Carolina, 4-1; and Memphis State and UCLA, 5-1. Texas A&M is 6-1. UNLV was far from the longest of long shots. Butler opened at 300-1 at Harrah's and reached the Sweet 16 by defeating Maryland 62-59. ...
Rita Rudner is stringing quite a run together on the Strip. After a five-year headliner deal at New York-New York, Rudner moved to Harrah's last fall and, I'm told, signed a three-year extension. ...
A bald Britney Spears showed up -- sort of -- at the opening of The Pearl, the Palms' new venue, on Saturday night. Before her recent meltdown, there was speculation that Spears might be the opening headliner for the 2,500-seat room. Well, there she was: Her likeness was featured on the bass drum of the rock group Chevelle, one of the opening acts for Evanescence. ...
CineVegas has landed another Oscar winner. Look for an announcement any day now that Anthony Hopkins has signed on for the film festival. Hopkins won an Oscar in 1992 for "The Silence of the Lambs."
SIGHTINGS
Celine Dion, at Rao's (Caesars Palace) on Sunday with a party of 30 to celebrate her mother's 80th birthday. ... At the Marco Antonio Barrera-Juan Manuel Marquez fight at Mandalay Bay on Saturday: Cuba Gooding Jr. and boxing stars Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright, Shane Mosley and Ricky Hatton. ... At the grand opening of The Pearl: Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, in the crowd. ... David Spade, at the Playboy Club and Moon on Saturday. ... Playboy bunny April Rawlings and TV personality Molly Sullivan, stars of the TV show "Paradise City," at Tangerine (Treasure Island) with a Syrup swimwear group. ... Barry Williams of TV hit "The Brady Bunch," introducing former pop star Tiffany at Polly Esther's (Stratosphere) on Saturday. He spent most of the night dancing on the Saturday Night Fever dance floor. ... Brad Oscar and Larry Raben, who play Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, respectively, in "The Producers" (Paris Las Vegas), taking in the "X" show at Harrah's on Saturday. ... At the United Center in Chicago on Sunday for the UNLV-Wisconsin NCAA Tournament game: Rebel fans Pat Christenson, Cliff Findlay, Elaine Wynn, John Pucci, Susan and Irwin Molasky, Steve Schorr and PR sisters Terri and Kelli Maruca.
THE PUNCH LINE
"It went down to 11 last night. Not 'American Idol.' The number of U.S. attorneys still working." -- Jay Leno
Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. For more from Norm, log on to www.normclarke.com.
