Big Changes In The Works At Graceland

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

31 Jul 2007 05:28 PM

Memphis, Tennessee is gearing up to host an onslaught of visitors in the next couple of weeks. Thousands of Elvis Presley fans who have saved up vacation time in order to take their annual trips to Graceland will want to take lots of pictures of their visit. Those shots may be worth a lot of money in the near future.

Visitors can offer them as "before" pictures to collectors who are documenting the major overhaul planned for Presley's famous home. Managers of the late legend's estate want to add a new visitors center (roughly the size of a football field), a convention hotel and high-tech, interactive museum.

At the heart of the facelift is the current visitors center that sits across the big, white-columned house Presley bought in 1957 for just over $100,000. According to Graceland officials, "the mansion" draws close to 600,000 visitors a year, and for a week around the anniversary of Elvis' death (August 16, 1977) the average number of adoring fans skyrockets. As it stands now, the visitors center, souvenir shops and museums are grouped together in a small strip mall across the street from "the mansion."

The new plans call for leveling the strip mall/visitors center and building a new 80,000-square-foot visitors center (that's roughly seven times the size of "the mansion") complete with the high-tech museum. Designers say the new center will be equipped with the same digital wizardry that allowed singer Celine Dion to recently perform what appeared to be a live duet with Elvis on "American Idol." In addition, Graceland's 128-room Heartbreak Hotel would also be demolished and replaced with a 500-room convention hotel.

Developers say they have no official timeline for the expansion, but estimate it may take up to three years.

Have you ever been to Graceland? Do you think the redevelopment plan will greatly improve the area?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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