The departed Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch got a rare and exclusive inside look on The Today Show, detailing the sale of the $100 Million property in Santa Ynez Valley, California.
One of the property's sales representatives gave correspondent Joe Fryer a debriefing on how the ranch will be handled for sale, taking him around and inside the 2,700-acre plot, which has been renamed the Sycamore Valley Ranch.
Jackson occupied the estate's 12,000-square-feet main house, which stands on the massive property that Michael acquired for $19.5 million in 1987, as Billboard reports. He soon after carried out his vision for a Peter Pan-themed amusement park, with rides and circus animals, all of which have since been removed (aside from a few animals like Ricky the Llama).
In 2009, shortly before his death due to an accidental medical overdose (supposedly at the hands of Conrad Murray) a real estate investment firm named Colony Capital purchased the asset $22.5 million to follow through with Jackson's wish to sell. The late King of Pop had not been back to the estate since he was accused of the molestation of several young children.
In the clip, Fryer reports that it is quite difficult to even get a look at the strict sale, unless you are a serious potential buyer. Although most of the amusement attractions and animals are gone, the original train and railroad tracks remain, as well as a 50-seat movie theater that was envisioned by Jackson himself. If purchased, the ranch could then be altered in any way, since the property will no longer belong to the Jackson estate, at least according to Colony Capital's Kyle Forsyth. “What they want to do with it is up to them,” he says in the clip.
