The Neverland Ranch of Michael Jackson was reportedly sold to billionaire investor Ron Burkle for $22 million, less than a quarter of its original $100 million worth, in an arrangement described by one LA real estate agent as a “steal.”
The Los Olivos, California property was home to the late pop star from 1987, when he was at the height of his fame, to June 2009, when he died. He died of a drug overdose at a different home in Los Angeles’s Holmby Hills neighborhood.
Of the two Jackson properties, Neverland was much better known, set on 2,698 acres of land. The ranch was famously searched by Santa Barbara county prosecutors during the 1990s, identifying it as a fantasy world Jackson created to attract boys to the property to molest them. In that case, Jackson was acquitted.
The ranch also included an add-on amusement park, train ride, and zoo that was offered to the singer-songwriter by Elizabeth Taylor in 1991 to house orangutans and an elephant called Gypsy. At $100m in 2015, Neverland was placed on the market.
Jackson’s ranch was ultimately acquired by Burkle, a former partner of the late pop star and co-founder of the investment company Yucaipa Companies, according to the Wall Street Journal, after it was re-listed for $31m this year.
It was co-owned by Jackson’s estate at the time of the sale with a fund controlled by the real estate investment trust, Colony Capital. Originally, Jackson paid $19.5m for the ranch but had defaulted on a loan guaranteed by the land and was placed with the trust in a joint venture.
LA real estate agent Ian Reed told the Guardian that the price could be deemed a bargain even given the “creepy past” of the home and the fact that the ranch, built-in 1982, features out of date interiors.
“It’s maybe like a haunted house but the buyer just got a deal – a steal in fact,” Reed said.
For several years before his death, as the pop star was trying to rid himself of financial trouble, the buyer advised Jackson on business matters. He’s known to have many houses in the city, including the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House in Los Angeles, and a Palm Springs John Lautner home, designed and built for Bob and Dolores Hope.
According to the listing, Sycamore Valley Ranch, aka Neverland, is the ultimate ranch retreat… nestled between landscaped gardens and a 4-acre lake, incredible scenic views to the south, and majestic mountain views to the north, consisting of a 12,000-sq-ft French Normandy-style mansion.
The property includes a large covered outdoor BBQ area, suitable for entertaining and adjacent to the swimming pool, pool house, and tennis court. Three separate guest homes, a 5,500sq ft cinema theater with a stage, barns, animal shelter facilities, corrals, and a repair shop are also on the property.
“At one time, at the gates of the estate, Jackson installed a floral clock that spelled out “Neverland,” a name that comes, of course, from Peter Pan’s J M Barrie. The land was rebranded as Sycamore Valley Ranch after Jackson’s death and the amusement rides were demolished.
Source: The Guardian