A nearly 20,000-square-foot mansion in Reno, Nevada, sold for $10.325 million - the biggest price 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.

Sitting on a 14-acre estate in southwest Reno, the residence was first listed last June for $12.8 million The home was completed around 2005 by the late casino-industry executive William Pennington.

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.

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.



Nevada has attracted a wave of buyers from 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.”

William N. Pennington, a gaming industry pioneer, successful entrepreneur and one of Nevada's leading philanthropists, passed away in 2011 at the age of 88.

Listed for years among Forbes 400 richest people in America, Pennington gave millions of dollars to education, medicine and other charities through his foundation.

Pennington and business partner William Bennett acquired Circus Circus in Las Vegas in 1974. They were credited with transforming the resort and ultimately Vegas into an entertainment center for all ages.

The pair opened another Circus Circus in Reno in 1978 and later extended the Las Vegas Strip south with construction of the Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay resorts. The Excalibur was the largest hotel in the world with more than 4,200 rooms when it was completed in 1990.

Pennington grew up in California, where he played football for the University of California, Berkeley, until he was sidelined by a knee injury. He put off graduation when he joined the Army Air Corps to serve as a bomber pilot in World War II.

Pennington moved to Reno in 1962 to make it big in the oil drilling business. He soon turned his attention toward the gambling industry instead.

He started by designing and building electronic gaming devices in the late 1960s. After Circus Circus began producing large profits in the 1970s, Pennington and Bennett added a second hotel tower to the casino.

A decade later, Circus Circus became one of the first gambling companies to offer shares on the New Your Stock Exchange.

Pennington formed the William N. Pennington Foundation in 1989. He wrote at the time: “Having grown up in the Great Depression, when my family faced difficult times, I know very well the hardships that can befall anyone at any time.”

His charity work was focused mostly in Reno, where he provided scholarships to local college students and donated money to area schools and medical centers.

“He was a huge supporter of the university,” said Dan Klaich, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. “We have the new Pennington Medical Education building, which I think it will revolutionize the way we teach medicine.” The Pennington Foundation donated 95 Million dollars for this building.

The photo above I took looking out of my bedroom window.

On the left is the Peppermill Casino where I worked for 22 years. On the right is the roof of the Pennington Mansion.

I moved in to my home in 2003. I drove by the property every day on my way to work and watched them build Pennington Mansion in 2005.