Fans have flocked outside Prince’s Paisley Park estate since the singer’s recent death at the age of 57.
Now there are rumors that Prince’s fans will be able to tour Paisley Park at some point.
The future of the Chanhassen, Minnesota, complex where the superstar recorded music and threw parties is not entirely certain. But chatter that it could become a museum and tourist attraction like Elvis Presley’s Graceland has sparked excitement.
“We’re hoping to make Paisley what [Prince wanted] it to be,” Prince collaborator and former fiancee Sheila E. told Entertainment Tonight. “[He] was working on it being a museum. He’s been gathering memorabilia and stuff from all the tours, like my drums and his motorcycle.”
Fans have long been curious about the sprawling 55,000-foot compound where Prince reportedly did everything from rehearse for his tours to relax in between them.
Those lucky enough to score an invite were greeted by “a hallway of his awards and things, which he really didn’t care about too much, but he displayed it for the fans because he knows that they would want to see it” according to Sheila E.
“There’s pictures of him all down the halls, some you’ve seen before and some never [seen],” she said. “There’s a mural on the wall with his hands out and on one side is all the people he was influenced by and the other side is all of us who have played with him… It’s beautiful.”
And of course, there’s plenty of purple.
It’s also the site where Prince was last seen by the public.
The Saturday before his death he hosted a “Paisley Park After Dark” dance party. He told fans in attendance to “save your prayers for a couple of days.” Many had worried about a report that his plane had made an emergency landing to take him to the hospital on his way back from Atlanta.
It would be his final concert. He died the following Thursday.
Following the Graceland example would be a boost to both fans and Prince’s beloved Minneapolis. Elvis’ former home attracts hundreds of thousands of fans a year and has helped stimulate the Memphis economy.
It would also add to Prince’s estate which is estimated to be worth about $300 million. On Tuesday his sister, Tyka Nelson, filed legal documents stating the singer did not have a will as far as she was aware.
What he did have is a trove of unreleased material and his master recordings stored in a vault in the “Foo Foo Room” at Paisley Park.
Denny Laufenburger, the mayor of Chanhassen, told KMSP his city would love to have Paisley Park become a permanent memorial to the singer, but everything was dependent upon the family.
“What’s important to me is that we listen to the family’s wishes, because they will be reflecting what Prince wanted, and we do what we can as a city to accommodate the safety of our citizens, the safety of our visitors,” he said.
