‘Neverland’ ranch on sale for $100m

Former home of the late Michael Jackson has been renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch

An aerial view of  the Neverland ranch in Santa Ynez near Santa Barbara, California, taken in 2003. The ranch is now up for sale for $100 million. Photograph: EPA/Armando Aroriyo
An aerial view of the Neverland ranch in Santa Ynez near Santa Barbara, California, taken in 2003. The ranch is now up for sale for $100 million. Photograph: EPA/Armando Aroriyo

The sprawling Neverland ranch in California once owned by the late pop star Michael Jackson is for sale for $100 million, Sotheby's International Realty said on Friday.

The 2,700 acre (1,100-hectare) estate in Los Olivos, which once featured a zoo and amusement park where Jackson entertained children, has been renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch. It is being sold jointly by Sotheby’s and Hilton & Hyland.

“It officially went on the market this morning,” said Suzanne Perkins of Sotheby’s.

Jackson, who died from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at age of 50 in 2009, had purchased the property in 1987 for $19.5 million. After financial troubles he handed over the title to the ranch in 2008 to investment firm Colony Capital LLC, which held his $23 million loan on the property.

READ MORE

Jackson named the property after the land in the fairy tale of Peter Pan by author J.M. Barrie about a boy who refused to group up. The estate has been extensively renovated but the floral clock with the word Neverland spelled out and the railway still remain.

Perkins said she would not be giving tours of the property. – (Reuters)