Price of Col. Sanders’ Kentucky mansion slashed after nearly a year on the block
Col. Sanders’ old Kentucky home has been on the block for nearly a year — and the price is getting cut to chicken feed.
After 10 months with no takers, the $9 million price for the legendary KFC founder’s former mansion and three-acre estate in Shelbyville, Ky. has been slashed by nearly half to $4.9 million.
Col. Harland Sanders lived out his final 25 years with his wife, Claudia, at the historic property called Blackwood Hall. The lot also includes the Claudia Sanders Dinner House, which has been a tourist destination and local hotspot since 1959.
But the current owners of the property – personal friends of the Sanders family – bundled Col. Sanders memorabilia and the intellectual property of the dinner house into the $9 million price tag, which ultimately scared off some buyers, as The Post reported exclusively.
“The owners have decided to separate the Sanders family memorabilia and the trademark and likeness of Claudia Sanders from the sale of the restaurant business and physical real estate,” Six Degrees Real Estate said in a statement about the price reduction.
Jonathan Klunk of Six Degrees declined to discuss plans for selling the intellectual property and memorabilia, which includes one of the original KFC buckets and flags, a letter to the colonel from former President Richard Nixon, the colonel’s wristwatch, personal Bible, and money clip.
KFC’s owner YUM! — the $6.8 billion conglomerate headquartered in Louisville, Ky., — was not interested in acquiring the property, Klunk told The Post last year.
YUM! is highly sensitive to any uses of its trademarks, which include “Colonel Sanders’ Original Recipe,” “Col. Harland Sanders” and “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good.”
The company shored up its portfolio of KFC trademarks at the US Patent & Trademark Office just days after Blackwood Hall was listed.
Six Degrees advised potential buyers, “If you want to use the Claudia Sanders brand you have to have a team of intellectual property lawyers,” Klunk told The Post last year.
The estate has been owned by Tommy and Cherry Settle since the 1970s. Cherry, 79, was a hostess at the Dinner House and Tommy ran a plant that supplied hams to the restaurant. The colonel, who died in 1980 at age 94, walked Cherry down the aisle at her wedding and later sold his property to the Settles.
The couple lived at the 5,000-square-foot Blackwood Hall but want to downsize as they retire.
The Claudia Sanders Dinner House has been a mainstay in Shelbyville since 1959, even serving as the first KFC headquarters for a time. Its menu includes boxes of chicken wings, thighs, tenders, yeast rolls, creamed spinach, coleslaw, and homemade pies.
The restaurant generated $2.3 million in sales and served over 100,000 diners in 2022, according to Louisville Business First.
But someone can purchase the property now, shut down the restaurant and convert the acreage to a movie theater, garden center, or daycare facility, as the listing suggests since the value of the brand has been carved out of the new listing price.
“While we would love to see the legacy of this historic brand continue, maintaining the restaurant’s current operations is not a purchase requirement,” Morgan Hancock of Six Degrees said in a statement.
