Reno, Nevada, Mansion Sells for Record $10.3 Million

A nearly 20,000-square-foot mansion in Reno, Nevada, has just sold for $10.325 million—the biggest deal ever for a single-family residence in the city. 

Known as the Pennington Mansion, the stone-clad main home has city views, park-like grounds and gardens, and was built for a gaming executive with materials imported from Europe, South America and Mexico, according to listing agent Clif Chase of Chase International Real Estate.

“Though the house is uniquely impressive in so many ways, the materials used in construction are my favorite aspect of the property, including some very rare Mexican onyx,” Chase said.

“I understand that the family that built the home originally spent over $20 million just on building the house.”

Sitting on a 14-acre estate in southwest Reno, the residence was first listed last June for $12.8 million, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The home was completed around 2005 by the late casino-industry executive William Pennington, according to public records. Pennington died in 2011 at the age of 88. 

Developer Don Roger Norman, whose assets include the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center—where both Google and Tesla have office space—bought the mansion in 2015 for $8 million, according to the Journal. 

“I felt it was a good time to downsize and place this iconic home on the market as many Fortune 500 companies are bringing their business to the Reno area,” Norman told the Journal last year. Representatives from the industrial center didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional comment. 

Chase declined to comment on the buyer, but noted they were from California. 

Nevada has attracted a wave of buyers from such high-cost states in recent years. The home’s listing boasted that “Nevada residents enjoy a very favorable tax climate with no state income taxes, no inheritance tax and comparatively low property taxes.”

Amenities of the mansion include a living room with a fireplace and coffered ceilings; a dining room that leads to a large terrace; a chef’s kitchen with a butler’s pantry and back kitchen; a sunken bar and adjacent wine cellar; a wood-clad office; a home theater with a snack bar; and a gym with a salon, according to the listing. 

The grounds include statues, a grand fountain, and a swimming pool and hot tub, the listing said.