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The Rocket Man’s recent condo sale in Atlanta launched the pop star’s sales price several millions of dollars beyond asking, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
After just a few weeks of being on the market, Elton John’s property sold for $7.225 million, which is 45 percent more than the original asking price of $4.995 million.
John’s primary residence is in England, but the Atlanta condo at the Park Place on Peachtree has served as his home base in the U.S. for decades. The property was listed in September after the singer-songwriter finished his farewell tour.
Chase Mizell of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty represented the listing. The buyer, who was repped by Betsy Akers of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, has yet to be identified. According to Mizell, they are local and paid all-cash for the property.
“We had a ton of interest right out of the gate,” Mizell told The WSJ, noting that the apartment was priced in order to gain attention.
The roughly 13,300-square-foot condo has four bedrooms, four full baths and three half baths. Built, in 1987, it was originally six separate units that were combined into one over the years, according to the listing description. John purchased his first, roughly 2,500-square-foot unit around 1992 and bought five more units over the next couple of decades once he realized that Atlanta was an easy hub to fly in and out of during his tours.
The deal will mark one of Atlanta’s priciest condo sales ever, according to the local MLS. The current record for the most expensive condo sale in the city is from 2019 when a unit at the St. Regis Atlanta sold for nearly $14 million.
The property features a two-story grand salon with floor-to-ceiling windows, spaces designed to showcase John’s photography collections, views of Midtown and Downtown, extensive closet space, a fitness studio, spa/massage room and three guest suites. The unit also includes nine reserved parking spaces, six storage units and five dedicated wine storage units.
Pricing the condo was a challenge, Mizell told The WSJ, because of its unusual layout and its connection to John. Large areas that John used for his photography collection might appeal to other art collectors but might also pose an interior design challenge to other buyers. Ultimately, John’s connection to the unit seems to have won out, creating a “frenzy” among buyers who weren’t even in the market for a new property, according to Mizell.
“We strategically underpriced it so the price would go up, rather than list for an ambitious price and potentially have it sit on the market,” Mizell told The WSJ.
The Park Place building was constructed in the 1980s and has roughly 250 apartments.
Mizell told The WSJ that the luxury market in Atlanta had “softened” as a result of higher interest rates, which, of course, have not impacted cash buyers. As of September, the median sale price in Atlanta was up 5 percent year over year to about $420,000, according to Redfin.
John released his debut album Empty Sky in 1969, and the following year, formed The Elton John Band and released the hit single “Your Song.” The star, known for tunes like “Candle in the Wind,” “Rocket Man,” and “Tiny Dancer,” wrapped his farewell tour in July, which ultimately spanned over five years (with a two-year hiatus during the pandemic), 330 shows and 16 Gucci suits. The tour, which brought in more than $900 million, is considered the highest-grossing in Billboard Boxscore history.
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