By Steve Freiss, Photographs: Francis George

eorge Maloof is jumping up and down. No, not just in a figurative sense over his ambitious new building plans-the Palms' second tower and the swanky condo project called Palms Place-although certainly he's beyond-words excited about those. But right now, Maloof is actually leaping up and slamming down on the floor of what is taking shape as the world's first recording studio imbedded in a casino-hotel.

"Ya see how the floor shifts a little bit?" the giddy, 41-year-old Palms owner asks, giggling. "We're on a floating floor. I mean, it has complete sound insulation. There will be no sound bleed." It won't actually slide around when it's all done, but for the moment, it makes his point: That with enough money, some clever engineering and audacious creativity, he'll build a litany of hotel options the world has always wanted. The second new Palms structure being built, slated to open in earnest in January, is called the Fantasy Tower, but its true name ought to be George Maloof's Fantasy Tower, because Maloof first thought up the idea of a 10,000-square-foot, two-floor suite outfitted with a regulation-size basketball court with three Murphy beds that open onto it. Patrons can even hire cheerleaders and a ref, Maloof says.

"When I was a little kid, I used to go to bed holding my football and basketball," says Maloof, whose family also owns the NBA's Sacramento Kings franchise. "Here you can sleep on the court! Leo DiCaprio, [Mark] Wahlberg, they'll love it. It's the only suite in the world like it anywhere." It's a phrase you hear over and over as Maloof wanders the Palms, which will be celebrating its fourth anniversary during the first weekend of November with a trademark blowout bash, complete with a scheduled appearance by 30 Playboy Playmates.

Meanwhile, the new 40-story tower will include a litany of features you've never seen in a hotel, from glass-walled swimming pools that extend beyond the edge of the building to glass "show showers" equipped with stripper poles that stand on raised platforms facing the living room. The building will be topped by a 12,000-square-foot, two-floor Playboy Club, which will have indoor and outdoor pools as well as the state's first gaming tables inside a nightclub.

And yet, as excited as Maloof is about all that, it's almost yesterday's news to him even before it opens. These days he is consumed by the 599-unit, already-sold-out Palms Place, a sleek, glass-laden 49- story residential building designed by Bellagio architect Jon Jerde that'll have a 30,000-square-foot spa and 24-hour room service. Due to open in 2007, it'll rise to the west of the current parking garage, with a private entrance, valet, pool, restaurant and bar, but it will also be connected by a glass bridge-dubbed the Sky Tube-to the center of the Palms itself. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey own the highest onebedroom mountain-view unit, and Hulk Hogan and Kiss' Paul Stanley also are buyers. What's more, two of Maloof's three brothers bought units there, at prices well over seven figures. (The lowest-priced unit, a 600-square-foot studio, started in the high $400,000s.)

"It will be the best condo project in Las Vegas," Maloof says in his quiet, gravelly rasp. "I'll put it against any other project in town."

It would be easy to say that Maloof isn't being objective, and maybe he is not, but his down-toearth attitude has made him entirely believable to so many of his friends, including Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. While Maloof is clearly a millionaire many times over and an enabler of the celebutante class, he also plans his own daily schedule, writes personal thank-you notes to journalists, interrupts interviews to take calls from his mom, and grabs at your iPod to see what you listen to. Maloof's sunny, demure exterior doesn't so much hide his entrepreneurial fire-in-the-belly drive as prove that you can be ambitious and nice about it at the same time. No less than Steve Wynn vouches for him, insisting that Maloof is "the nicest, sweetest person." ...

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