VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Hunt unearths Hunt transaction

Friday, Aug. 15, 2003 | 4:44 a.m.

Days before she filed for divorce, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt unloaded a vacant piece of land she owns for $2.3 million.

VegasBeat reported on the split between Hunt and her husband of more than 30 years, Charles "Blackie" Hunt, last month.

According to a deed transfer document obtained by sleuthing In Business Las Vegas Director of Research Ulf Buchholz (In Biz is a sister pub of this newspaper), on July 31, Lorraine Hunt -- "a married woman as her sole and separate property" -- sold the undeveloped 2.8-acre property at 8461 Giles Street, near Blue Diamond Road and Interstate 15.

The buyer was an entity called South Tower LLC, a Nevada limited liability company. Messages left at its Main Street offices were not returned on Friday.

A spokesman for Hunt said that she sold the land, which she acquired before she was married, because "the price was right."

He also insisted the deal was entirely unrelated to her personal situation, calling the timing a coincidence.

Original "Bye Bye Birdie" star Dick Gautier got engaged in Las Vegas last week. He proposed to Dr. Tess Hightower. She is the "relationship coach" on the ABC Family reality show "The Last Resort."

They celebrated at Bootlegger Bistro -- owned by the above-mentioned Hunts -- on Las Vegas Boulevard with producer and talent agent Jaki Baskow.

Cirque du Soleil President Guy Laliberte and a group of about 30 friends and co-workers ended up at Tabu (MGM Grand) Thursday night after the "Zumanity" opening at New York-New York.

The group drank several bottles of champagne and stayed until the wee hours.

The creative "Dream Team" has been announced for the new Bally's water show, "Aquaria," scheduled to open in 2005.

Producer Daniel Flannery will be working with Magic Mountain water park designer David J. Flood, "Lion King" puppetry designer Michael Curry and Joachim Schloemer, one of Europe's leading choreographers.

One-time MGM film star Esther Williams will help design the show's costumes.

Construction on a seven-story, 2,000-seat "Aquacade" adjacent to Bally's is scheduled to start in the fall.

Last year's inaugural Las Vegas Comedy Festival was a success, so organizers are bringing it back for Year No. 2.

New this year will be the Bob Hope Lifetime Achievement Award; the festival features a variety of seminars, performances and social events.

The festivities take place at the Stardust from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.

There was much discussion across Las Vegas on Friday whether a massive power failure had ever hit the Strip.

It has -- but nothing like the blackout suffered in the Northeast and Midwest last week.

According to some folks we spoke to who remember, Las Vegas went dark in 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Western cities turned out the lights in an attempt to foil possible enemy air attacks. Also, there were some planned outages in the 1970s during the energy crisis.

In case you missed it, the cable music channel VH1 today is rebroadcasting "Divas Duets -- Live from Las Vegas," which was filmed at MGM Grand Garden Arena in May.

Among the performers are Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Queen Latifah, Jewel and many others.

Stratosphere is trumpeting its new, improved, bigger and better thrill ride, which is coming to the tower in the fall.

The hotel has announced that Project X Sky will open in October with a gaggle of Gen-X celebs invited to take the first ride. The contraption consists of an open, floorless vehicle attached to a pivoting track that propels the passenger more than 30 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower -- nearly 900 feet above the Strip.

Bobby Ray Harris, the hotel's senior vice president of operations, said that helicopters would start hoisting the massive structure into place just after Labor Day.

Sounds like fun, but watching a dealer turn cards at a blackjack table is excitement enough for us.