What's next for Paisley Park

CHANHASSEN, Minn. (KMSP) - As the purple wall of balloons and flowers slowly obscure Paisley Park, Prince fans are hoping heir Mecca never vanishes. Many fans are calling on the estate to become a permanent memorial or museum — a feeling shared by the woman who helped design the interior.

“I'd love to see this as a museum, a monument to a wonderful, wonderful talented human being who played a big role in my life,” Karen Krattinger, a personal assistant to Prince in the 1980s, told Fox 9. 

Krattinger said Prince gave her few instructions for the interior design, but that “it had to be user friendly and beautiful and lovely and work efficient.” 

Dave Ryan, host of the “Dave Ryan Show” on KDWB, along with the mayor of Chanhassen, is asking listeners for their ideas — using the hashtag, #PrinceMemorial.

“People are very enthusiastic about it. People know he is somebody who should be memorialized. I mean we're so proud of him here,” Dave Ryan told Fox 9.

Denny Laufenburger, the mayor of Chanhassen, said the city would welcome Paisley Park becoming a permanent attraction, but he doesn’t expect to have conversations with Prince's family members for weeks or months.

“What's important to me is that we listen to the family's wishes, because they will be reflecting what Prince wanted, and we do what we can as a city to accommodate the safety of our citizens, the safety of our visitors,” Laufenburger said.

Many are comparing the potential of Paisley Park to Graceland, which receives about 600,000 visitors each year. Graceland is in Memphis, which has a metro population of more than 1.3 million people. The Twin Cities metro population is more than twice that. However, the feasibility of such an attraction would likely come down to the number of visitors who would travel to visit Paisley Park.

The mayor of Chanhassen said the Ryder Cup, the golf tournament occurring in five months and a few miles from Paisley Park, will also bring renewed interest in Prince — especially from the international visitors part of the expected 250,000-strong crowd.

As for Prince’s family, Maurice Phillips, Prince’s brother in law, said the family plans for Paisley Park to become a museum, according to an interview with The Sun.

Before any plans are made, the legalities of who gets Prince’s estate must first be worked out.