LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson’s famous Rancho Neverland, California, was finally sold, more than 10 years after the death of the pop star who left the property after his trial on charges of molesting a boy there.
Billionaire investor Ron Burkle, a former friend of the Jackson family, recently bought the 2,700-acre property, his spokesman said on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal said the property, which was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch several years ago, was sold for $ 22 million according to public records. In 2015, the asking price was $ 100 million and in 2017 it was replaced by $ 67 million.
Burkle’s spokesman said the businessman saw the investment as an opportunity for a land bank. He spotted the property from the air while looking elsewhere and contacted Tom Barrack, the founder of real estate investment company Colony Capital LLC, to seal the sale. The ranch was off the market at the time.
Jackson, who died of an overdose of the anesthetic Propofol in 2009 at age 50, bought the property in Los Olivos, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles, in 1988 for $ 19.5 million. After financial problems, in 2008 he handed over the title to Colony Capital LLC, which maintained a loan on the property.
Neverland, a name taken from the short story “Peter Pan” of a boy who refused to grow up, became Jackson’s favorite retreat and featured a zoo, a railroad and theme park rides.
It was also where he entertained children, one of which brought charges of sexual abuse against the singer, which resulted in a 2005 trial and Jackson’s acquittal of all charges.
Jackson vowed never to return to Neverland after the trial.
Burkle is the controlling shareholder of Soho House, a private club that attracts people in the entertainment and media industries and has properties in New York, London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.