Michael Jackson’s storied but infamous Neverland Ranch has returned to the market — with a $69 million price cut curiously timed just weeks after a lawsuit filed by the King of Pop’s estate against HBO and it’s upcoming Finding Neverland documentary.
Neverland Ranch, which has since been rebranded as Sycamore Valley Ranch, is now available for purchase for $31 million, down from an initial price tag of $100 million that, in 2017, was further reduced to $67 million. The 2,700-acre estate Jackson called home for more than 15 years has, over decades, become iconic, thanks in part to a Disneyland-style resort with waterfalls, animals and a private amusement park.
Photographer Jim Barsch | Courtesy of Suzanne Perkins
More recently, however, the estate has grappled with more disturbing associations, and HBO’s soon-to-air Leaving Neverland features two men who claim Jackson sexually abused them in their youth. In 2005, Jackson was cleared on charges of bringing a 13-year-old boy to the Neverland Ranch and molesting him.
Jackson’s estate responded by filing a $100 lawsuit accusing HBO of “breach[ing] its agreement not to disparage Michael Jackson by producing and selling to the public a one-sided marathon of unvetted propaganda.”
Photographer Jim Barsch | Courtesy of Suzanne Perkins
As a result of this history, the Neverland property has not been an easy sale. It is currently owned through a joint venture between real estate investment firm Colony Capital and Michael Jackson’s estate. The ranch has hit the market numerous times after Jackson’s death in 2007 — first for $100 million in 2015 and then for $67 million in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The latest listing, managed by Compass real estate agents Suzanne Perkins and Kyle Forsyth, has been slashed in price by another $36 million.
Courtesy of Suzanne Perkins/Facebook
“The timing is right for new stewardship,” Forsyth told Inman. “The ranch is well maintained and the approximately 2,700 acres are a naturalist’s paradise.”
The agents would not comment on whether the timing of the HBO documentary and years-long controversy surrounding the estate has complicated the sale.
Courtesy of Suzanne Perkins/Facebook