I could swear the restoration took place from spring to summer 1985, which is partially why MJ was recording BAD demos at a variety of studios across LA. Does anyone else know more?
Accord to this article in French, "Michael decided to refresh the house in 1983"... but then they show "Plans for the future house in 1982" ... I don't think they more chronology detail so that's confusing:
(Edit: Ok well, I was looking for the link I posted earlier, which had relevant info for this thread but got removed because of "Promotion policy violation.")
Joseph Jackson sold half of the Hayvenhurst estate to his son Michael Jackson in early 1981 (Joseph Jackson and Katherine Jackson retained, each of them, 25 per cent of the estate).
Later, in the same year, Joseph Jackson sold also his remaining 25 per cent to Michael Jackson (so, Michael Jackson had 75 per cent, his mother 25 per cent and his father had no per cent at all).
When Michael Jackson acquired the 75 per cent in 1981, he immediately demolished the entire Hayvenhurst estate in order to rebuild a new one.
He wanted to rebuild it in a different way and as soon as possible because, as author John Randy Taraborrelli explained, the singer wanted to erase all these bad, childhood memories that the old Hayvenhurst estate reminded to him.
The rebuilding took two years to finish (1981-1983).
In 1984, when James DeBarge (the then-husband of Janet Jackson) stayed for some time in the Hayvenhurst estate, the estate was already in its new, renovated form.