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Look inside this Palms Place penthouse that sold for $12.5M

Updated November 8, 2019 - 8:20 am

Five years after trying to sell his Palms Place penthouse for almost $40 million, Phil Maloof has found a buyer — though at a much lower price.

TurnKey Pads, a vacation-property company, has purchased the 59th-floor party pad west of the Strip for nearly $12.5 million. The sale closed Wednesday, property records show.

The penthouse, in the condo tower next to the Palms hotel-casino, was listed for $15 million. It occupies the entire top floor of the building at 4381 W. Flamingo Road and boasts 6,230 square feet of living space, 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows, an indoor DJ booth, an outdoor hot tub, movie screen and bar and panoramic views of the valley, including the Strip.

TurnKey Pads founder Bryan Ercolano said he plans to install a helipad.

His target customers are bachelor and bachelorette parties, corporate events, weddings and other gatherings. He said this week that he already has a few bookings starting at $20,000 per night.

“For the high roller, this is the ultimate Vegas experience,” said listing broker Ivan Sher of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

Maloof, whose family developed the Palms and formerly owned the Sacramento Kings basketball team, listed the penthouse for $38 million in 2014 with different brokers. Months later, he threw in a two-year, prepaid lease on a Lamborghini as part of the deal.

The luxury sports car was not part of the purchase this time around, nor were the original Dali painting and the original Picasso, which also were offered five years ago.

The art, Ercolano agreed, would not work well with his business model.

“It would be wrecked,” he said.

Maloof, 52, said in an interview at the penthouse Thursday that he received “significant interest” during the prior sales attempt, “but maybe the price was a little too high.”

He said he tried to sell back then because he was looking to get a German shepherd and needed a backyard. He now lives in a Las Vegas hotel and has two German shepherds, but the dogs stay at a friend’s house, he said.

“I want to buy another home out here somewhere with some space, and I’d like to put a German shepherd obstacle course in,” Maloof said.

He added: “They’re my whole life.”

All told, Maloof said, he lived in the penthouse for about nine years, and it offers “the best view in the world.” He also thinks, 10 years from now, it will be worth double or triple its current value.

“It’s a masterpiece,” he said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.

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