'Big Mike' Harrah has big vision for former bank site.

"Big Mike" Harrah likes to do things in a big way.

He's seeking big tenants as part of a bid to build Orange County's tallest office tower in Santa Ana. And now he's working on the Pavilion, a lavish theater created in Bank of America Corp.'s former regional headquarters on Main Street.

Two years in the making, the plush 500-seat venue has a $3.5 million sound system. Downstairs is a wine cellar with an arched brick ceiling, marble floors and a 22-foot tasting table. In the Vault Room, which used to store $1 billion in cash, "vault girls" serve drinks dressed in Vegas-style costumes. For the house revue show, "50 Years of Rock 'n' Roll," Harrah recruited Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers as producer.

Harrah said he had budgeted $5 million for the theater. He's up to $22 million. "We're a little over," he said, smiling and gathering his long grayish beard, flecked with red at its tip.

The Marshall Tucker Band recently played the Pavilion and Jose Feliciano is lined up for December. Hot 92 Jamz is bringing Earth, Wind & Fire for a listener appreciation party. Harrah said he hopes to one day lure Aretha Franklin. "I'm a huge fan of R&B," he said.

Harrah has a lot of competition. The Orange County Performing Arts Center is just up the road in Costa Mesa. Then there's Anaheim's House of Blues and other venues.

But Harrah, who likes to race dragsters at the Las Vegas Speedway and flies one of only two civilian-owned Cobra attack helicopters, is a big guy, both in stature and character.

Performers at the Pavilion get the rock star treatment. "Rock girls" act as the entertainers' concierge, discreetly offering a second bottle of Jack Daniels or getting tickets to outings for their kids. The Pavilion also has a catwalk for fashion shows, a recording studio and a postproduction facility.

To draw tenants to his 37-story office tower, Harrah said other attractions are needed, including restaurants and entertainment venues. "It's part of my master plan to redevelop downtown Santa Aria," Harrah said.

His Santa Ana-based Caribou Industries Inc. owns about 3 million square feet of space downtown and around Santa Ana's Civic Center. He started buying in the early 1990s

The Pavilion originally was set to be a modest office building. Then someone approached Harrah about turning it into a theater. "As I spent more and more time with it, I got more involved," Harrah said. "It's like buying a '57 T-Bird and saying you're just going to paint it."