Never say never. Michael Jackson’s troubled Neverland Ranch has found a new owner.
Billionaire Ron Burkle, co-founder of investment firm Yucaipa Companies and a former Jackson partner, has bought the property in Los Olivos, California, for $ 22 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Beyond hitting nearly 2,700 acres and a nearly 12,000-square-foot mansion, among the many structures on the estate, Burkle also reached an agreement. The estate first hit the market in 2015 for a whopping $ 100 million.
From that moment on, the spread faded in the market. In 2017, it went back on sale asking for $ 67 million after a massive price reduction of $ 33 million. In 2019, it was listed for $ 31 million, the newspaper added.
Beyond the extensive staircase of the property, it is also full of amenities such as a 50-seat movie theater, a basketball court and several guest houses, which have been the subject of dark stories for a long time. .
In 2016, a report appeared claiming Jackson had a closet with three locks in a guest house full of photos of young children and children’s toys. More recently, the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland” focused on the stories of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged that Jackson sexually abused them when they were children at Neverland Ranch, as well as elsewhere .
Jackson, who died at the age of 50 in 2009 from an acute drug overdose, stopped visiting Neverland after his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges. While it was being sold, Neverland was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch in an apparent effort to remove property from its haunting legacy. Jackson bought it for about $ 19.5 million in 1987 and gave famous touches of fantasy to “Peter Pan” by adding an amusement park, which has since been removed.
Jackson’s property was then owned by Neverland with a fund managed by real estate investment trust Colony Capital. According to the newspaper, Jackson defaulted on a loan backed by the ranch and Colony bought the ticket in 2008, putting the title in a joint venture. Burkle was Jackson’s business adviser in the mid-2000s, the newspaper added, at a time when Jackson was trying to avoid the financial downturn due in part to his lavish lifestyle.
Located 30 minutes from the center of Santa Barbara, the property has a total of 22 facilities, including a three-bedroom guest house with a fireplace.