Reply With QuoteDon't know enough to give a comment
I wish they'd get their facts right, Priscilla didn't form EPE she just revamped it w/her people. Elvis' & Col. formed it in late 50's. Also Lisa owns Graceland but I don't know what they mean by Sillerman controls it....unless they are referring to the 100 yr. lease she signed for the tours to continue?
What do you guys think of Lisa doing that?
Elvis managers plan Graceland overhaul
By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The thousands of Elvis Presley fans descending on Memphis for the 30th anniversary of his death Aug. 16 won't see much sign of it, but plans are moving along for big-time changes at Graceland.
Managers of Presley's famous home want to overhaul its tourist complex ? with a new visitors center bigger than a football field, a convention hotel and high-tech museum displays that can give a new, digital life to the King himself.
All it will take to bring about those wonders is $250 million or so; the total reorganization of CKX Inc., the New York-based company that controls all things Elvis; and a publicly supported facelift for Graceland's struggling neighborhood.
The obstacles are far from small, but the people behind the plans, led by CKX Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman, have a history of putting together big deals and making money for investors.
Sillerman, a multimillionaire dealer in media and entertainment assets, took over Graceland in 2005 when he bought the rights to Elvis' name and image from daughter Lisa Marie, Presley's sole heir.
When Presley died, his finances were in sad shape. Led by his ex-wife Priscilla Presley, the estate formed Elvis Presley Enterprises, opened Graceland to the public and solidified the legal rights to make money on Elvis' name and image.
Last year, Graceland took in $27 million in revenue, and the overall Elvis business brings in more than $40 million a year. That made him the second-highest grossing dead celebrity in 2006, behind only Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, according to Forbes.
Lisa Marie Presley still owns her father's house and 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises, but CKX controls Graceland and its sprawling complex of souvenir shops and memorabilia museums.
"As great as it is," Sillerman said after a recent visit to Graceland, "it can be so much better."
The big, white-columned house Presley bought in 1957 for just over $100,000 draws close to 600,000 visitors a year, and for a week around the anniversary of his death on Aug. 16, 1977, it attracts legions of his still-adoring fans.
Graceland's current visitors center, souvenir shops and museums were cobbled together by renovating a small strip mall across the street from what the Elvis faithful affectionately call "the mansion."
The new plans call for leveling all that and building a 80,000-square-foot visitors center designed from the ground up for handling big crowds and high-tech exhibits.
"To put that in perspective, that's about six or seven times the size of the mansion," Sillerman said.
The center will be equipped for the kind of technical wizardry that allowed singer Celine Dion to recently perform what appeared to be a live duet with Elvis on the "American Idol" TV show, which CKX also owns.
"People will actually think Elvis is there," Sillerman said. "It's going to be, 'Oh, wow,' I can tell you that."
For years, Elvis Presley Enterprises, now a CKX subsidiary, has been buying land for expansion and has put together 100-acres needed for the renovation, which would move the tourist center to the same side of Elvis Presley Boulevard as Graceland.
"We've continued all these years to be a major destination attraction with a busy, pretty unattractive street running right through the middle of it," said Jack Soden, EPE's top executive and a major player in opening Graceland to the public in 1982.
Graceland's 128-room Heartbreak Hotel, also on the wrong side of the four-lane street, is to be replaced by a convention hotel, on the better side, with up to 500 rooms.
No timeline for the expansion has been set, Soden said.
"But moving straight ahead, with every intention of keeping the ball moving, we're probably looking at something in the neighborhood of a three-year process," he said.
Top CKX managers, led by Sillerman, want to buy the company for $1.3 billion, at $13.75 a share plus stock equaling 25 percent of FX Luxury Realty, an affiliate with plans to develop hotels, casinos or other such projects with CKX.
Shareholders are expected to vote on the proposal perhaps in October, said Sillerman, the company's largest stockholder with 34 percent.
The plan is to take CKX private, with a small group of big-dollar investors including Sillerman and "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, and continue its focus on intellectual property and entertainment content.
Fuller is chief executive of CKX subsidiary 19 Entertainment, the company's biggest revenue source and owner of the "American Idol" franchise. After the buyout, CKX would become 19X.
FX Luxury Realty, as FXLR, would remain public with a much broader shareholder base to develop real estate projects in Memphis, Las Vegas and elsewhere, including abroad.
CKX, which also owns the rights to former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali's name and image, might have a better shot at other such deals as a private company, since celebrities are often reluctant to have their financial dealings made public, said Bear Stearns analyst Christopher Ensley.
Bear Stearns, which is not involved in the buyout, predicts a total cost, including expenses, of $1.5 billion, with $600 million in equity and $950 million in debt. CKX management is expected to provide $200 million with the rest coming from institutional investors.
With Sillerman and other CKX managers holding more than 45 percent of its shares, approval for the buyout is likely, with a closing perhaps by the end of the year, Ensley said.
"I looked at the transaction several different ways, and I thought the valuation was full and fair to investors," he said.
Sillerman's past success in putting together investment packages may help attract buyout backers, Ensley said.
In the 1990s, Sillerman helped put together a group of radio stations that sold for $2 billion, and he was a leading founder of a SFX Entertainment, a sports and live concert company that sold for $4 billion in 2000.
Graceland managers have been working on their expansion plans for more than a year, and Sillerman has come to Memphis to talk with city, county and state officials about their assistance.
CKX wants a "mutual cooperation agreement" with local government for major highway and utility improvements and renovation help for other businesses in the area, particularly along Elvis Presley Boulevard, a once vibrant commercial strip now dotted with used-car lots and empty buildings.
"We don't want to create an island," Soden said. "We want to be a catalyst for the right kind of growth and the right kind of revitalization of the commercial corridors."
___
Don't know enough to give a comment
This news is music to my ears!!!!My friend Lakeisha told me what all was planned from her inside sources and apparently she was right on the ball with it all! The new visitor's center sounds AMAZING! Bigger than a football field?
Wow! And the new interactive museum attraction sounds similar to what Disney World and Epcot Center in Orlando both have which is STATE OF THE ART!!
I am so glad that they are tearing down the outdated rundown old looking plaza and going to build all state of the art facilities and on the same side of street as Graceland and next to it. I hope they have a restaurant there facing Graceland's side to have a view of the home just yards away. That would be so cool to have dinner and stare at Graceland while you eat.
There is another story online from a Memphis news station about this news and they said that plans for the residents aren't known yet but many are just waiting for Bob Sillerman to come knocking on their door to buy their homes, that they would be willing to do so. One of the residents said that she heard that they were going to turn that entire neighborhood into a Disney type of place. Also Bob Sillerman has been buying up more land north of Graceland and recently paid $2.1 million for property, twice as much as it was worth.
I can't wait for these changes to be made and completed so that I can return to Memphis and this time with my girl and not have to worry about being mugged or approached by a hooker. Great times are around the corner indeed!
No offense Suzan, but I'd much rather listen and enjoy my Elvis music and films than to be bothered with this crap ...
Are you crazy? This is an opportunity to raise EP to another level, bigger than he's ever been at before and you call it crap.Originally Posted by King_Creole
EP deserves this and more. Finally he's getting the attention and respect that has long been overdue. Graceland has simply become a dump from across the street and that surrounding area has really gone down hill. The mansion aside is gorgeous and untouchable as far as I'm concerned. No home can rival it. That's why this news isn't just exciting but extremely important to the future of Graceland and the legacy. Without these plans, Graceland doesn't survive longevity much longer. that's why it IS important to make these changes to broaden the horizon and bring in younger and newer fans.
Let me ask you this, and all of you who think it's crap too or not important? What would you say if EPE didn't have Bob Sillerman calling the shots, financing these plans, and putting EP back on TV as he is now doing? What would you say if no one cared as he does and just let EP die out with time? Would you still think these plans were crap? No you wouldn't. Your perspective would be much different then.
Believe it or not but the music won't last forever. But the image, the legacy, the memory and the phenomenon will, as long as someone like Bob Sillerman is in charge. We should all THANK him for what he has already done in such a short time.
Why would you even make a comment such as this?
This is so true...... Priscilla and LMP have run out of Ideas and need an injection of new plans to bring Elvis into the new millennium. The fact someone of Sillermans calibre is willing to take this project on is exciting. Like it or not Elvis is a commodity and as such needs to be managed by someone willing to make bigger, bolder plans and be willing to inject capitol and not use it as a soul income and career as Priscilla has for many years.
Some may not like this commercialisation as a way forward but lets face it Parker did it for years!
I don't know...I've mixed emotions and my sources telling me same thing as this article...but not like definite plans as to how and what they are going to do exactly.
No offense to anyone, but I think EPE/Memphis made that area a dump, they could have made it so much better, when Elvis was there, yes there was a stip mall across the street, HOWEVER, there were also trees, etc...next to it on the land Elvis owned, whereas now it's souvenir shops and airplane's and museums, etc...they could have made it fancier but they wanted more money in their pocket and now that they've found Sillerman who's worth billions and billions and isn't afraid to invest, all of a sudden it's a major thing for them, when it should have been a priorotity the whole time. 25 yrs. is a while to get ur act together.
EAP75..I see some of your points on other hand you sound like a "suit" or like someone who is being paid to post in Sillerman's favor...lol...b4 u go off on a business tangent I am aware of how business's run as my husband and I own a construction company and have for years, but there is such a thing as being NICE and owning a business.
I don't think it's crap I'm sorry that you do...if that is the case why do u come to threads like this? Just curious.
I don;t work for or am I a suit for Bob Sillerman. I just happen to be glad to see someone taking a serious interest into EP and his world and investing millions and millions of dollars to take it to another level that couldn't have been reached before. Susan, the problem with EPE is that they lack vision, leadership and creativity. They always have since they opened it in 1982. They are very cheap. But throughout the years, the thing they lacked the most was financial resources which they now have and have no excuses anymore. That is why NOW we are seeing them move forward to make Graceland and that surrounding area into a money melting pot for tourism. This isn't about EPE woke up and smelt the roses. This is about someone kicked EPE in the rear and showed them you have to spend money to make more money. FXS is the greatest thing that has or could have ever happened to EP since his death as far as I'm concerned.
[QUOTE=EP75;124496]
Believe it or not but the music won't last forever. QUOTE]
I have been an Elvis fan and collector since the '60's, and in all those years, this has got to be the most ludicrous statement concerning Elvis I have ever heard. Unbelievable.
The music WILL LAST FOREVER...his humanity and the heart and soul of the man will live on forever!
I can't say I don't agree w/u to an extent EP75, except I don't think EPE lacked the money, they were making hand over fist, enough that Lisa's inheritance went from 5mil. (which for back then was not a bad sum contrary to how some make it sound like he was broke) to 500 mil. and Pris raking in the cash LONNNGGGGG after she left him to me is ludicrous...but anyway, point is this on my part...they COULD have done a lot more w/the estate if they had not wanted to line their own pockets more.
I don't know if Sillerman is the best thing that's happened to Elvis...I prefer as a long long long time fan to remember the man, not the "Mickey Mouse" figure he is becoming...Graceland was his HOME it was never meant as a "Disneyland".
Since I"m new on this forum...I mean no disrespect to anyone or anyone's view point, I appreciate and can see everyone's angle, I just don't agree with it all the time just like not evreryone will agree w/my viewpoint and that's ok.
[quote=rocknroll;124542]Have to agree with you rocknroll, Elvis is all about music of course also the man he was but in my opinion your cant see Elvis disconnected from his music. It all started with the music it always be about the music in basics.
without a song, a man ain't got a friend,
without a song, the road would never bend,
without a song, so I'll keep singing the song.
http://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/10_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/12_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/30_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/98_64.gif
Bob Sillerman is the best thing to ever happen to the Elvis Estate. This news is fantastic. The icing on the cake would be if Sillerman could buy out Elvis' back catalogue from Sony BMG. They have run out of ideas and appear not to have the will to further the Elvis Legacy e.g. no record award upgrades or remix singles/albums etc.
Brian
"Believe it or not but the music won't last forever."
Then there is no point in anything.His music is all that matters.It's why he was and is still important to so many people.Personally I think his music will last forever.Hopefully the changes at Graceland will be positive.Although I am one of those who liked it just fine when all you had were a few shops and you just walked up the driveway.Sometimes bigger isnt always better.Back then it was almost a mythical place.The commercialization has stripped much of that away for me.
Jak
Brian I agree about the music catalog. Now THAT would be fantastic.
I re-watched Elvis by the Presley's...and Lisa made it sound like it's up to her whether or not another remix is approved, she said something along the lines "nothing has come along that grabs me" or something like that...so I don't think it's up to BMG on that end but I don't know.
Youre right Dovey.I guess it's different for some of the newer fans who were not around when he was.Hopefully the changes will help draw them to Graceland and keep things going strong.I just hope things dont get to over the top if you know what I mean.
Jak
You have said what I tried to say Jak. Thanks
without a song, a man ain't got a friend,
without a song, the road would never bend,
without a song, so I'll keep singing the song.
http://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/10_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/12_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/30_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/98_64.gif
I agree with both Dovey and Jak. I do believe his music will live forever and your comment Jak about your fear about the renovations going over the top is my biggest fear too. Hopefully all will be done to enhance Graceland instead of overwhelming it.
Diane
And I hope that they keep doing it, also when it maybe financially not so interesting anymore.... that is my biggest fear, no money.....no Elvis
without a song, a man ain't got a friend,
without a song, the road would never bend,
without a song, so I'll keep singing the song.
http://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/10_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/12_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/30_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/98_64.gif
The so-called "long term" plans for the Graceland expansion will only be effective for the next 40 or 50 years or so.
In, say, 100 years, there is no way that Graceland will attract as many visitors as it does today. Elvis isn't really part of history yet (I mean, the sort of history you'd study at school) and there are millions of people still left on earth who have memories of him, his music and his death.
While Elvis and his music will never be forgotten, once the last person who has memories of 1977 and earlier disappears from the earth, things will inevitably change. Elvis will become like Beethoven or other great artists throughout time: still important, naturally, but no longer in the general public consciousness like he is today.
The music will one day run out (come on, you know it's true ... there can't be that much left in the RCA archives to last for another century!) and Elvis' place in the pantheon of people who have shaped history will naturally morph into something different than what it is today. Something still good, I'm sure.
All things must pass, as George Harrison said.
None of us, of course, will be around to see it though ...
Last edited by srj1967; 08-01-2007 at 09:38 AM.
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