Shaquille O’Neal buys Las Vegas estate for $2M

Basketball Hall of Famer and TNT NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal, who has business ties in Las Vegas, has sold the home he bought in Southern Highlands pre-pandemic and turned around and paid nearly $2 million for a private 1-acre compound near Wayne Newton’s former estate in the southeast valley, according to the listing agent’s social media post.

Listing agent Zar Zanganeh of LUXE Estates &Lifestyles announced the sale on a Facebook post July 9. That post has since been removed. Later, in a phone interview Zanganeh declined to confirm the buyer was O’Neal, despite his previous posts, congratulating O’Neal and his Realtor, Stacy Conner, the director of sports and entertainment division at Windermere Prestige Properties.

Conner said she can’t disclose any information about the buyer, who she described as a longtime friend who she’s worked with on many transactions.

Neither Realtor would deny the sale was to O’Neal. News of the transaction has spread throughout the Las Vegas real estate community.

The deal for the two-story home east of Sunset Park closed July 9 for $1.95 million, according to Clark County property records. It shows the property as acquired by Lester J. Knispel Trust and Chexy Trust, which have been associated with O’Neal Las Vegas real estate transactions.

A Turnberry Place condo that was widely known to belong to O’Neal was listed in the trusts’ name. It sold for $677,000 in February 2020. It was bought in January 2019 for $670,000, according to Clark County property records.

Zanganeh did say the buyer plans to live in the home. O’Neal spends most of his time in Atlanta where he works for TNT.

“It was a house we knew we would sell quickly because of the beautiful finishes and fantastic finishes,” Zanganeh said. “His folks were able to see it from Instagram before it went on the market. They were proactive in seeing it first and making an offer quickly before other agents through the (Multiple Listing Service) saw it listed publicly. I don’t know if it’s a full-time home or part-time home, but it’s definitely for the buyer’s personal use. It’s not a purchase for a relative or soon-to-be rental.”

The Review-Journal reported in September that O’Neal paid $765,000 for a 5,440-square-foot home in Southern Highlands. That home has a basement and swim-up bar. It was built in 2006 and sits on 0.22 acres and was bought by O’Neal in February before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Luxury buyers have been seeking more space since the pandemic.

O’Neal sold that two-story home on June 28 for $1 million, according to Clark County property records that listed the Shaquille O’Neal Revocable Trust as the owner. Conner was listed as the seller and buyer’s agent, according to the Multiple Listing Service. The buyer was Zuko Trust and Timothy Johnson Trust.

“I represent athletes, and so I was able to put two people together (who were) a perfect fit,” Conner said. “It makes a transaction easier when two athletes are familiar with each other. There is a level of trust you may not have with anyone else.”

She declined to give name of the athlete who purchased that home in Southern Highlands.

O’Neal’s frame-stucco home near Newton’s Casa De Shenandoah was built in 1993 and sits on 1.12 acres. It measures 5,980 square feet with five bedrooms, 5½ bathrooms and a three-car garage.

Clark County property records show the first floor has 3,024 square feet while the second floor has 1,800 square feet. The garage measures 770 square feet. The home has a casita that measures 1,156 square feet. The home has a pool and spa.

In his listing, Zanganeh called the home a “traditional estate with a modern twist.” There have been more than $750,000 in renovations done to the home, he said.

Zanganeh called it a gated compound “perfectly situated on over 1 acre of land surrounded by beautiful landscaping and privacy galore. Two private gates lead to a circular driveway. Double doors open to a high-vaulted light-filled room with a grand staircase, adorned with multiple windows and glass-filled French doors that overlook the spacious backyard.”

The home has a large den that could serve as a sixth bedroom. It also has a new gourmet kitchen, formal living and dining room, large balconies and a covered patio overlooking the large backyard with the pool, pool house with extra pool bath and a putting green.

“The extensive luxury renovations have made this a brand new home that has never been lived-in,” Zanganeh said. “They modernized everything in the house, and it was almost a full year with the renovation. Everything was stripped and redone from the floors to the walls to the entire kitchen and every bathroom.”

Zanganeh said the home is privately gated with a long driveway. “There are a lot of things that are pretty hard to find anywhere else in town,” Zanganeh said. “There are very few properties that have that much acreage and being completely renovated. It’s double gated with your own private entrance to the property. ”

Zanganeh said that’s a neighborhood that has a lot of seven-figure homes under construction, but there’s not a lot of land available.

“A couple of builders have gone back to that area because there’s demand from the public for homes with huge lots,” Zanganeh said. “That’s one of the few areas in town where you can get a big lot.”

O’Neal has ties to Las Vegas as the co-owner of Big Chicken sandwich shop east of the Strip.

Known as Shaq, the LSU grad and 7-foot-1-inch center played 19 years in the NBA. He was the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic and was later traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He is a four-time NBA champion.