Aretha Franklin’s Detroit mansion sells for $300K

In life, she was the Queen of Soul. Now, Aretha Franklin’s become the Queen of Sold.

The last Detroit property owned by the late Motor City icon recently sold for $300,000, The Detroit News reported.

Anthony Kellum, head of the Michigan-based Kellum Mortgage bought the 6,200-square-foot brick home and plans to update it, the Associate Press reported. He said the home, which has been vacant for 10 years, requires “major renovations to restore its original beauty.” The deal also included an empty, half-acre lot next to the house.

The Hamilton Road mansion was the last home owned in the city of Detroit by Franklin, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76.

“There are no other Detroit properties” that were owned by Franklin, a spokesperson for Franklin’s estate told The Detroit News.

Franklin bought the five-bedroom slate-roofed mansion, built in 1927, for an undisclosed price in 1993. But in 2008, the home fell into foreclosure – a result, Franklin said, of an attorney’s mistake that led to $19,192 in unpaid taxes – and she almost lost the home. But Franklin paid the back taxes and recovered the property.

The home has six bathrooms, three fireplaces and features leaded glass windows, a three-car garage and a back yard that abuts the Detroit Golf Club’s north course.

The late singer owned several other Detroit properties that she went on to sell. Since her death, her estate has listed her remaining properties, such as her home in Bloomfield Township, which is on the market with an asking price of $800,000. [The Detroit News, AP] – Rich Bockmann