Elvis Presley’s Graceland home could be moving to Japan.
Managers of the late ‘All Shook Up’ hitmaker’s iconic Memphis estate have been considering offers to relocate the building and its surrounding attractions overseas as it would make "more profit" than is possible in Tennessee.
Joel Weinshanker, managing director of Elvis Presley Enterprises, said: "We had an offer ten days ago to move Graceland to Japan.
"We had two offers to move to the Middle East and one [to move] to China. They offered us more profit than we could ever make in Memphis."
However, Mr. Weinshanker admitted that it was unlikely any of the money-making offers would be accepted.
He is quoted by The Times newspaper as saying: "No matter how famous Elvis got, no matter how much money he made, he always came back to Memphis."
The threat to move the estate comes as local officials are currently debating a plan to grant tax incentives on a proposed $100 million expansion of the Memphis compound.
The changes would include an enlarged guesthouse – taking it from 450 rooms to 600 – a hangar for Elvis’ planes which will also function as a party room, and a club modelled on the ‘Jungle Room’ inside the mansion.
The city council is expected to grant the deal this month but the decision has been helped up over plans for a proposed 6,000-seat arena, as they previously agreed public funding could only be used on a single concert venue, and that building is currently shared by a local basketball team, the Memphis Grizzlies.
The $750,000 from the tax break scheme will be reinvested into a local community project in keeping with the spirit of the ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ singer.
Mr. Weinshanker recalled: "He would go down to the gates, there would be 50 people waiting for him, he would say: ‘Let’s go to the movie theatre,’ and he would pay for their tickets, buy them all popcorn."
After the White House, Graceland is said to be the most-visited private home in the US.
It opened to the public in 1982, five years after The King passed away.
Graceland on the move?
