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Burkle’s spokesman said the businessman saw the investment as an opportunity to make land banks. He saw the property from the air while looking for another location and contacted Tom Barrack, the founder of real estate investment firm Colony Capital LLC, to seal the sale. The ranch was off the market at the time.
Jackson, who died of an overdose of the anesthetic Propofol in 2009 at age 50, purchased the property in Los Olivos, about 120 miles (193 km) north of Los Angeles, in 1988 for $ 19.5 million. After financial troubles, in 2008 he turned over the title to Colony Capital LLC, which had a loan on the property.
Neverland, a name taken from the “Peter Pan” story of a boy who refused to grow up, became Jackson’s favorite haven and featured a zoo, railroad, and theme park attractions.
It was also where he entertained the children, one of whom brought charges of sexual abuse against the singer that resulted in a 2005 trial and Jackson’s acquittal of all charges.
Jackson vowed never to return to Neverland after the trial.
Burkle is the majority shareholder in Soho House, a private membership club that attracts people from the entertainment and media industries and has properties in New York, London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
– Report by Jill Serjeant
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