Prince’s Paisley Park compound in Minnesota will open for fans as planned on Thursday (06Oct16) after local officials granted the estate a temporary tour permit.
Prince’s family, in collaboration with Bremer Bank officials, who were appointed special administrators for Prince’s estate following his death in April (16), announced plans to open the gates to the singer’s private pad and production complex for daily public tours two months ago (Aug16), and the gates on the compound were expected to open from Thursday (06Oct16).
However, the proposed launch hit a snag after Chanhassen City Council members raised concerns about the potential influx of tourists during a meeting on Monday (03Oct16), and delayed a decision on whether to grant the estate representatives their zoning request, which would reclassify Paisley Park as a museum.
Reports suggested the big opening would be delayed, but councillors have since agreed to issue temporary tour permits, allowing Paisley Park officials to welcome visitors for just three days. They will revisit the museum zoning request later in the year (16).
As a result, the complex will open as scheduled on Thursday, and the place will be available for tours on two other dates in October (16).
Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson, gave viewers of U.S. breakfast show Today a sneak peek at the estate during Wednesday’s (05Oct16) broadcast, and admitted much of what visitors will see had actually been put in place by the hitmaker himself.
Asked if it had been tough for her and her relatives to prepare Paisley Park for public viewing, she said, “It actually wasn’t difficult at all because Prince had already planned, pre-planned, a lot of things, and so Paisley Park, you will see what it looked like when Prince was here…”
Visiting fans will get a guided tour of Paisley Park’s main floor, which features Prince’s recording and mixing studios, as well as a room dedicated to his 1984 movie musical, Purple Rain.
Meanwhile, Tyka confesses she is only now coming to terms with the fact Prince is no longer alive, six months after his passing.
“My family is doing well. I think I was the closest to him so I’m taking it the hardest,” she explained. “In the beginning, it was 90 per cent, ‘He’s not gone’, and 10 per cent, ‘Maybe’, and now it’s finally flipping…”
Tyka’s grieving process has also been hindered by the constant reminders all around her at Paisley Park: “Any time you look at his clothes or his shoes or you hear a song… and of course the doves.”
The music icon famously kept doves as pets in his compound, and Tyka reveals the birds were uncharacteristically quiet in the days following Prince’s death.
“If it’s quiet, it doesn’t feel the same, so after he passed, they (the doves) weren’t talking, so when I first came in I was like, ‘Where are the doves? What’s going on?’ and they (estate caretakers) said, ‘They’re up there, they’re just not talking.'”
She decided to have some of her late brother’s tunes played throughout the property’s speaker system, and the music has remained on ever since – and the doves have started crying again.
