Graceland Gets Some Consolidation

Robert F.X. Sillerman has said he has big plans for Elvis Presley and has been buying up property around Graceland. Now the dots are getting connected.

Sillerman’s company, CKX, bought the rights to Elvis’ name and likeness in 2005 and owns the Graceland estate, if not the mansion itself. Daughter Lisa Marie Presley still owns the Jungle Room.

The Memphis estate that Elvis bought in 1957 for roughly $100,000 brings in close to 600,000 visitors a year. Last year, the white-column house racked up $27 million in revenue.

"As great as it is, it can be so much better," Sillerman said during a recent visit.

CKX has said it wants to spruce up Elvis’ image and a spokesman recently confirmed to Pollstar that an example was seen during "American Idol" when a Presley hologram sang alongside Celine Dion.

With the 30th anniversary of Elvis’ August 16, 1977, death around the corner, CKX has big remodeling plans ringing up at about $250 million.

The now-CKX subsidiary Elvis Presley Enterprises has bought land for expansion and set aside 100 acres for renovation. The souvenir shops will be razed and an 80,000-square-foot visitors center, six to seven times larger than the mansion, will rise from its ashes.

The center will include high-tech displays capable of treating fans to digitized performances of The King à la "American Idol."

"People will actually think Elvis is there," Sillerman said. "It’s going to be, ‘Oh wow,’ I can tell you that."

The Heartbreak Hotel will also be moved to the other side of the street and replaced with a convention hotel with up to 500 rooms.

Jack Soden, EPE’s top executive who played a major part in opening Graceland to the public in 1982, said a timeline for expansion hasn’t been set but estimates three years.

To clean up Elvis Presley Boulevard, filled with used-car lots and empty buildings, CKX is looking for a "mutual cooperation agreement" with local government that will help renovate other businesses in the area with major highway and utility improvements.

CKX itself is also planning a remodeling as the company is looking to go private. Sillerman and other top CKX managers want o buy the company for $1.3 billion, at $13.75 a share plus stock equaling 25 percent of FX Luxury Realty.