Developer to buy Penn Jillette’s Las Vegas home
A pending home sale and plans to film a horror movie have prompted Penn and Emily Jillette to hold a yard sale this weekend at his old bachelor pad, The Slammer, 7601 W. Wigwam Ave. The couple said Saturday’s sale could continue on into Sunday.
The sale includes unique items of celebrity magician Penn Jillette, who is the tall, talkative guy of the Penn &Teller duo and on the “Fool Us” TV show.
“There will be all sorts of stuff like things from Penn and Teller, memorabilia, atheist memorabilia, stuff from ‘Penn’s Sunday School’ (podcast), and things that we didn’t move,” Penn Jillette said. “There will be stuff, a bunch of friends and a good time.”
This past year, the family moved to an estate in The Ridges, a luxury community in Summerlin in northwest Las Vegas. There was some talk that came from an October fundraising barbecue event of having United Church of Bacon, a group of self-described atheists and skeptics take over the home as its community center. It didn’t work out, and the group is looking at other locations for its meeting place.
“What happened was that the location is not that good for what they needed. … That is why we moved to this plan to sell the home,” Penn Jillette said.
The ultimate reason for the sale: The Slammer and its almost 10 acres are under a sales contract with an unnamed developer, according to Jillette’s Realtor Zar Zanganeh of Luxe Estates &Lifestyles.
A related reason: A need to declutter the 7,932-square-foot place before filming a horror movie that will give this personality-filled home one last hurrah culminating in its destruction.
“We have sold it, and on those 10 acres, I am going to shoot a horror movie in early October and November. We are going to bulldoze it in a final, chaotic scene,” Penn Jillette said.
“Because of that, we’re doing a garage sale. … People can come look around all that they want, at my stuff and in the home. It is sort of a way for people to see the home before it is torn down.”
Penn purchased the original A-frame portion of the residence in the 1990s. At that time, the home was fairly isolated in undeveloped desert.
“The Slammer” nickname Penn Jillette has said, refers to a patient unit of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Maryland.
Many additions have occurred throughout the years to create the appearance of colorful, attached “minibuildings.” A “family wing,” which is like a modern home in itself, was constructed and is where the Jillettes resided until this past year. Among the compound’s many features are seven bedrooms, eight full baths and two half-baths, a 14-seat movie theater, recording studio, rooftop balcony, courtyard, koi pond, lap pool and spa, and artistic touches.
Enlisted to help was Zanganeh, who previously listed The Slammer for sale in 2013 and represented the Jillettes in their 2015 Summerlin home purchase.
“Last time it was on the market (in 2013), we had so much publicity and did a lot of marketing, but they decided not to sell it at that time,” Zanganeh said.
“Long story short, we decided to list it again, but this time not on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and off the market. We had multiple offers, and we are now in contract with a developer. In 2013, it was priced at just over $2 million, and we are under contract close to that previous asking price,” Zanganeh said, adding that local developers and people from as far as the south of France were bidding on the property. He declined to release the buyer’s name until the close of sale, which is expected by the end of the year.
To get to the yard sale from the Buffalo Drive and Wigwam Avenue intersection, head east. Then keep an eye out for the biggest, most colorful home on the south side of the street.
