LAS VEGAS — Dan Reynolds, the frontman of Grammy award-winning rock band Imagine Dragons, has donated his childhood home in Las Vegas to Encircle, an organization dedicated to providing a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth.
The home is part of a major donation made by Reynolds, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith in support of the organization's effort to help empower at-risk LGBTQ+ youth and bring families together.
According to Clark County property records, the home is 5,518 sq. feet with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. It was built in 1988.
Photos on Zillow show the exterior of the property and the home's swimming pool.
Zillow reports the home was listed for sale in October 2020 for $895,000 dollars. The listing was removed on Jan. 12.
Legal documents show Ronald and Christine Reynolds transferred the property to their son, Dan, on Jan. 19.
“[Dan] called early in the morning and he said 'you can say no, but I just had this dream and I woke up,'" said the singer's father, Ron Reynolds. "And I spoke to my wife, she cried and told us. We get emotional about it too, he said, 'what if I bought your home and I donated it?'"
“We feel like this house has a spirit, so to speak, of its own," Ron Reynolds said. "It had a lot of children in it, a lot of happiness, and that’s what we wanted, and people coming around were investment people."
The Reynolds family wanted the home to continue being a blessing for everyone who walked through the door.
The idea is moving closer to reality for Encircle, which would like to transform the home into a resource center.
"This could be a place where children could continue to grow up feeling loved and supported and getting a lot of that love from the community," said Stephenie Larsen, founder of Encircle. “We’re working on getting it zoned correctly and then if that happens, we will renovate this house, make it beautiful a place that reflects the value and the beauty of these youth."
The property is Encircle's first resource center outside of Utah, where the organization is based.
The nonprofit also makes free and low-cost counseling available for LGBTQ+ individuals and their families.
Since the organization's creation in 2017, counseling services have been provided to more than 70,000 individuals including 6,000 family and youth therapy sessions.
The Las Vegas home is on track to be open to serve the community by the spring of 2022.
This story was originally published by Joe Bartels on Scripps station KTNV in Las Vegas.
