In 1989, Batman star Kim Basinger and her partners agreed to buy 1,700 acres of a Georgia town for $20 million; financial trouble later forced a sale for just $4.3 million

Hollywood stars are used to buying mansions, private islands and luxury cars. Kim Basinger went several steps further. At the height of her fame, the actress decided to invest in a small Georgia community, acquiring most of the privately owned property in Braselton for about $20 million. The ambitious plan was to transform the quiet town into a destination built around films, tourism, shops and entertainment. Within a few years, however, the dream had unravelled, and the property was eventually sold for just $4.3 million.According to the Los Angeles Times, the Braselton family agreed to sell about 1,700 acres to Basinger in March 1989, describing it as the bulk of the small northeast Georgia town. The piece of town was sold for $20 million in January 1990; it included a bank, an industrial park, 50 other buildings and two miles of Interstate highway frontage. Contemporary reporting by The Washington Post stated that the deal did not include the town's streets, cemetery or private residences. Braselton had about 500 residents at the time.A Hollywood dream in rural GeorgiaHowever, Basinger’s connection to the area was not entirely coincidental. She was born and raised in Athens, Georgia, and was familiar with North Georgia from her childhood. Braselton itself had a long-established history. The Braselton family had been closely associated with the community since William Harrison Braselton settled there in 1876, but by the late 1980s the town’s traditional commercial economy had weakened as shopping patterns changed and competition from larger centres increased.Plans discussed at the time included restoring older buildings, developing a tourist attraction, creating a film and recording centre and possibly staging a film festival. Planners also considered boutiques and other attractions that could turn Braselton into a destination rather than simply a small rural settlement. Basinger envisioned a large-scale entertainment and tourism development that would give the town a distinctive identity and attract visitors from outside the region.The idea of using film to draw visitors was not entirely fanciful. Research published in Tourism Management examined four UK locations featured in television productions and found evidence that screen exposure was followed by increases in visitor numbers. The study suggested that appearing on screen could help turn a location into a tourist attraction, providing some basis for Basinger's belief that a film-focused development could give Braselton a new identity.When the numbers stopped adding upThe problem was that publicity was easier to generate than a viable development plan. The proposed transformation never materialised on the scale originally imagined. The movie studio, recording facilities and tourist attractions remained largely plans. Instead of becoming a Hollywood outpost in Georgia, Braselton remained a small community best known for its celebrity investor. Los Angeles Times reports that at the same time, the investment became entangled with the financial difficulties that would eventually engulf Basinger. In 1993, she filed for bankruptcy following a costly legal dispute over the film Boxing Helena. A court had ordered her to pay millions of dollars after she withdrew from the project, although the judgment was later overturned on appeal. Her bankruptcy proceedings put pressure on her assets, including her interest in the Georgia venture. The Braselton investment ultimately ended in a steep loss. The partnership's property was sold in 1995 for about $4.3 million, a fraction of the roughly $20 million paid only a few years earlier. The figures represent a nominal loss of about $15.7 million, before considering financing costs and the division of the investment among the partners.The town that outlived the Hollywood gambleBraselton’s story, however, did not end with Basinger’s failed venture. The town went on to develop in its own right, attracting manufacturers, residential projects and businesses. The Mayfield Dairy Visitors Centre, Panoz Auto Development Company and a Havertys distribution centre became part of the area’s later economic landscape.In retrospect, Basinger’s risk looks all the more remarkable. She understood the possibilities a small Georgia town near Atlanta represented, but turning that idea into a major entertainment hub was much harder than expected. While her Hollywood background was enough to get her media attention and put Braselton on the map, there was no guarantee that her grand project would succeed. Therefore, Basinger’s Braselton experience stands out as one of Hollywood’s more unusual business ventures: an actress trying to develop a rural Georgia town into a destination for film, tourism and entertainment, and failing. Meanwhile, the town continued to grow long after Hollywood interest in it had faded.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.