Kid Rock Lists Motor City Mansion and Boathouse
In late December, rapper and country-rock star Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie (and who sometimes goes by the name DJ Bobby Shazam), expressed via Facebook his frustration with his longtime home city of Detroit. Ritchie grew up in Romeo, Mich., but has long resided in and around Detroit, a city he has adopted, supported and championed. There were reports, however, he might be done with Detroit. And indeed, he’s opted not to renew a licensing deal for his Made in Detroit restaurant at Little Caesars Arena, reportedly dismantled the longtime recording studio on his farm in nearby Clarkston, Mich., and now his Motor City manse, a grand river-front spread in a leafy neighborhood just a handful of miles west of downtown, has popped up for sale with Tim Cook at Skyline Realty Group at $2.2 million.
Avid celebrity real estate watchers (and Kid Rock fans) may recall the outspoken Trump-supporter, who was late last year escorted from the stage of Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse, a Nashville restaurant and performance venue he owns, after he went off on a boorish tear about Oprah Winfrey, Joy Behar and Kathie Lee Gifford, briefly listed the pretty property last year at the same price of $2.2 million. (Subsequent reports on the sale of the property appear to have been erroneous. There is a recorded change in ownership about a year ago, but tax records show it was a non-arms-length transfer from one entity controlled by Ritchie to another controlled by him.)
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Purchased by the multi-instrumentalist musician in 2012 for an unrecorded price, the stately American Colonial manse was built in 1930 and sits behind gates on almost an acre with six bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths in about 6,000 square feet over four floors filled with a plethora of patriotic decorative accents and religious iconography.
Guests pass between tall, slim columns, under a double-height porch and in to a graciously proportioned center hall foyer that stretches clear through to the back of the house where French doors lead to another double-height porch supported by another row of slender square columns. To one side of the foyer, a graciously proportioned butter-yellow living room is anchored by a multi-colored tile fireplace and eclectically furnished with a couple of cheetah-print bergère chairs and a plush pair of chesterfields upholstered in a mélange of paisley, striped and cheetah print velvet fabric. In the ample separate formal dining room, painted an aggressive shade of red that tips toward candy apple, beige silk fabric is painstakingly swagged over six-over-six paned sash windows. Updated with flesh-colored tiles, bespoke vintage-inspired cabinets and a full array of up-to-date stainless steel appliances, the kitchen includes a breakfast area that overlooks the front lawn.
A glitzy antique crystal chandelier hangs from a gold-toned tin ceiling over the staircase that winds around to the second floor where there are two en suite guest bedrooms, one with a portrait of George Washington over the bed. There’s also a small study with built-in bookshelves and a river-view master bedroom that includes a black-and-white tiled bathroom with a portrait of Jesus hung near a classic claw-footed soaking tub.
A secret door on the second floor landing opens to reveal a staircase that climbs to a finished and fully carpeted attic that contains three small bedrooms tucked up into the eaves with sloped ceilings, plus a bathroom and a central lounge. Finished in a manner that kinda-sorta resembles an Elks Lodge recreation room jazzed up with a black-and-white tiled floor, the basement holds a TV lounge with bachelor-style black leather sofas, a huge wet bar, a professional poker table and a cheesy mural of Ritchie’s Twisted Brown Trucker band in front of Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A.
In the backyard, a statue of Jesus rises up out of lush foliage surrounded by clipped boxwoods, and a great stretch of lawn extends to the river’s edge. Ritchie added the boathouse that incorporates an outdoor shower, jet-ski lifts and a massive rooftop deck for waterside relaxing and entertaining. Other notable features of the estate include two outdoor televisions, a heated two-car garage that’s perfect for Detroit’s freezing winters and, naturally, an extensive, camera-equipped security system.
The gun collecting ordained minister and committed philanthropist still owns a big country compound about an hours drive outside Detroit that he picked up in two separate 2000 transactions that totaled almost $1.65 million. About eight-and-a-half years ago he shelled out a tad over $3.2 million for an oceanfront home in Jupiter, Fla., that records show he still owns, and he presides over about 175 mostly unspoiled acres about 20 minutes north of downtown Nashville that he bought in a trio of transactions in 2013 and 2015 that totaled a bit more than $1.4 million.
Launch Gallery: A Look at Kid Rock’s Riverfront Spread in Detroit
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