Grab a coffee (or something stronger) and settle in.

We’ve been peeking inside some truly outrageous Carolinas mansions over the past year — the kind with golf simulators, private islands and chandeliers that look like they were stolen from a European hotel lobby.

If you missed any along the way, here’s your one-stop tour of the homes Charlotte’s biggest names, NFL stars, NBA players and a few mystery buyers have been buying, selling and slashing prices on.

Pour yourself a refill. We’re going inside.

• A 45-acre horse lover’s fantasy near Pinehurst — $5 million. Picture rolling countryside, a pond, an eight-stall barn with tack room and a European-inspired mansion with at least 8,000 square feet, wine cellar, media room and resort-style pool. The 2008 build at 1500 N.C. 73 in West End has four bedrooms, six bathrooms, an exterior elevator (yes, exterior) and is pitched as “ideal as a luxury family compound, equestrian retreat, or multigenerational legacy estate,” according to Coldwell Banker Realty’s listing. Bring your horses.

• The Griffin family’s Lake Norman saga gets a plot twist. Remember the 6,000-square-foot Sunset Cove events venue that had Cornelius neighbors in an uproar? After a year of backlash, the Griffin family pulled the rezoning request and is now pitching a “lower-volume” country club — bridge, Mahjong, Pilates, yoga and a hard cap of 12 weddings a year. They also plan three additional family mansions on Nantz Road, with their two existing waterfront mansions becoming overnight guest stays. “We plan to live there for life,” Mike Griffin told the Observer. The properties sit across a cove from where Michael Jordan once tore down his own mansion (presumably to build a bigger one — as one does).

• A Founding Father’s great-great-grandson’s mansion in the NC mountains — $9.75 million. Meet “New Gunston Hall,” an 11-acre Biltmore Forest estate commissioned in 1923 by William Mason, great-great-grandson of George Mason, and inspired by George’s Virginia home. The 8,688-square-foot Colonial Revival has nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, eight fireplaces, Flemish bond brickwork, slate roofing and formal gardens. Designed by Waddy Butler Wood (the architect behind the Woodrow Wilson House), it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and just got a three-year restoration finished in 2016, per Premier Sotheby’s. A six-car garage was thoughtfully added.

• Ex-Panther Vinny Ciurciu’s Mediterranean Lake Norman stunner — $7.5 million. Trump International Realty is shopping the former linebacker’s 5,694-square-foot home in The Point in Mooresville. Built in 2006 and fully renovated in 2021 by Vinny’s wife Jaclyn (a designer), it’s got a chef’s kitchen with professional-grade stainless, floor-to-ceiling windows on the main channel, an infinity-edge pool, a rooftop terrace, Porcelanosa tile, honed quartz counters and handmade vanities by Charlotte’s Mudwerk. Trump Realty broker Micaela Brewer has the details.

• Nicolas Batum’s longtime Lake Norman retreat — $6 million. The former Hornets star is finally selling his 10,320-square-foot Mediterranean estate on Nantz Road in Cornelius. Six bedrooms. Nine total bathrooms. An elevator to all three levels. A wine vault. A shoe room (a shoe room). A sculptural-fireplace great room, a media theater, a basketball court, multiple verandas, a custom pool with cascading waterfall flowing into a plunge pool — and 1.35 waterfront acres. Batum’s family has owned it since 2016, according to Premier Sotheby’s.

• A 31-room Lake Norman compound, fully furnished — $18.5 million. Florida philanthropist Donald Young, CEO of security firm Everon, and his wife, Kelly, are leaving their Harry Schrader-designed, 11,346-square-foot waterfront mansion to be near new grandkids in Chicago. Built in 2020 on a Lincoln County peninsula, it’s got seven bedrooms, a theater, regulation pickleball court, infinity-edge pool, five-car garage, private dock with boat lift and dual jet ski lifts. “From your phone, you can shut the water off,” Young told the Observer. They host a big 4th of July bash. He’s “more than sad” to leave.

• Late LendingTree founder Doug Lebda’s Quail Hollow showpiece — $15 million. Lebda died in an ATV crash in October 2025. His nearly 18,000-square-foot home along the Quail Hollow Club fairways is described as “Charlotte’s Most Exquisite Custom Estate.” Inside: Pierre Frey fabric wall upholstery, a 21-foot great room ceiling with a hand-blown glass chandelier, a Hellman Chang dining set, full-height marble countertops, a Wolf/Sub-Zero kitchen, a rock crystal fixture in the primary suite, a Cinematech-designed soundproof theater, a Golfzon simulator and a swim-up pool bar. The Lebdas paid $2.7 million for it in 2016, per Ivester Jackson.

• A Lake Norman home with its own 4.5-acre private island — now $14 million (down $8M). Yes, the price tag on Merancas — the Huntersville mansion and private island built in 1999 by Cornelis and Johanna Mermans — has dropped from $22 million in 2023. The 14,317-square-foot home has 360-degree lake views, an indoor pool under cedar with skylights, a primary suite with a hidden bookcase door, a children’s playroom with a hand-painted mural wrapping walls and ceiling, a sandy private beach, tennis court and two docks. The Mermans, now in their 80s, made their fortune in the Photo Corporation of America studio chain. Upkeep, son Bryan Mermans told the Observer, is just too much now.

• Ex-NASCAR driver Regan Smith’s price keeps dropping — now $6.5 million. The Fox NASCAR analyst and his wife, Megan, have cut the asking price on their 7,934-square-foot Troutman home four times since July 2024 ($7.5M → $7M → $6.7M → $6.5M). What you get: 10.9 waterfront acres, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, an in-ground pool, a covered dock and a pool house with a full bar and golf simulator screen behind garage-style doors, per Compass. Heated floors, push-button shower, custom California closets — chef’s kitchen.

• Mystery solved: who bought Shaq Thompson’s $9 million mansion. It’s Neal Blinde, Capital One’s president of commercial banking and a former Wells Fargo treasurer. The November 7 sale of the 11,000-square-foot Carmel Park estate set a neighborhood record and ranked as Charlotte’s third-highest home sale ever. “I’m the owner of the property,” Blinde confirmed to the Observer. Wells Fargo executive Bryant Holloway Owens is listed as LLC manager but says he has no financial interest.

• Shaq Thompson’s “Three Little Birds” sold for $9 million. Before the buyer reveal: the former Panthers linebacker sold his 1.7-acre gated Carmel Park estate for $1.7 million under asking, about a month after signing with the Buffalo Bills. Built in 2020 by Arcadia Homes, the six-bedroom home features dual great-room chandeliers reminiscent of “a grand European hotel lobby,” a billiards lounge with full bar, a wellness center with sauna and steam shower, a resort-style pool, covered cabana and full-size sports court, per Premier Sotheby’s.

• PJ Washington’s mansion at Trump’s Lake Norman golf course — $5.8 million. The Mavericks forward and his wife, Alisah, listed their 8,887-square-foot Mooresville home in The Point in October. Highlight reel: a 30-foot, handmade chandelier weaving through a sculptural staircase, three elevator-served levels, five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, multiple fireplaces, a heated fenced pool, sauna, fire pit, boat slip and a four-car garage (plus another for golf carts). They paid $4.1 million in 2023, according to eXp Realty.

• Jamie McMurray’s 33.6-acre Lake Norman estate — $12 million. The Daytona 500 champ-turned-FOX-analyst is selling his gated red-brick mansion on Beech Tree Road. The 7,612-square-foot home (Harry Schrader design, Arcadia build, 2015) has five bedrooms, a walk-in pantry, walk-in attic, a fire pit, outdoor kitchen, pool house, dock and a “resort-style” pool surrounded by turf, according to Corcoran HM Properties.

Which one would you take? (We’ll be in the shoe room.)

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.

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