Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch sold for $ 22 million, less than a quarter of its $ 100 million starting price, to billionaire investor Ron Burkle, in a deal that described a Los Angeles real estate agent as a “theft” “.
The estate in Los Olivos, California, was home to the late popstar of 1987, when he was at the height of his fame, until the time of his death in June 2009. He died of a drug overdose in a different house in Holmby Neighborhood Hills in Los Angeles.
Of Jackson’s two properties, Neverland, located on 2,698 acres of land, was much better known. During the 1990s, prosecutors in Santa Barbara County did a famous search of the ranch, describing it as a fantasy world that Jackson built to lure boys into the property to molest them. Jackson was acquitted in that case.
The ranch also featured an additional amusement park, train ride and zoo that housed orangutans and an elephant called Gypsy given to the singer and songwriter by Elizabeth Taylor in 1991. Neverland was put on the market for $ 100 million in 2015.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Jackson ranch was finally bought by Burkle, a former pop star associate and co-founder of investment firm Yucaipa Companies, after being re-listed for $ 31 million this year. .
At the time of the sale, it was co-owned by Jackson’s estate with a fund managed by Colony Capital, a real estate investment fund. Jackson originally paid $ 19.5 million for the ranch, but did not repay a loan secured by the property, which was placed in a joint venture with the fund.
Los Angeles real estate agent Ian Reed told the Guardian that, even considering the house’s “scary past” and the fact that the ranch, built in 1982, has outdated interiors, the price can be considered a rip off.
“Maybe it’s like a haunted house, but the buyer just closed a deal – a robbery, really,” said Reed.
The buyer advised Jackson on business issues for several years before his death, when the pop star was working to get rid of financial problems. He is known to have several homes in the area, including Ennis House in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and a John Lautner home in Palm Springs, designed and built for Bob and Dolores Hope.
According to the listing, Sycamore Valley Ranch, also known as NeverLand, consists of a 12,000 square foot French Normandy mansion and “is the best farm retreat … nestled between landscaped gardens and a 4-acre lake, incredible pastoral views to the south and majestic views of the mountains to the north. ”
The property includes “a large covered outdoor barbecue area is perfect for entertaining and adjacent to the pool, pool house and tennis court”. Also on the property are three separate guest houses, a 5,500 square foot cinema with stage, barns, animal shelters, corrals and a maintenance workshop.
At the same time, Jackson installed a floral clock at the gates of the property that spelled “Neverland”, a name that comes, of course, from Peter Pan of JM Barrie. After Jackson’s death, the property was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch and the attractions were dismantled.