Lake Norman mansion fetches near-record price. Why the buyer loves the place.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to show where the resale of the Cornelius mansion ranks in Mecklenburg County this year. A home on Hempstead Place in Charlotte sold for a higher price, according to county records.

A Charlotte-area man who founded an $80 million Amazon store e-commerce company bought a Lake Norman mansion last month for $7 million, a near-record price for a home resale in Mecklenburg County, public records show.

Adam Feinberg purchased the Mediterranean-style villa on Jetton Road in Cornelius from former Wachovia Bank executive David De Gorter and his wife, Stephanny Joan De Gorter, according to the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds property listing website.

Only a $7.7 million home at 401 Hempstead Place in Charlotte has ever resold for more, county records show.

The sale of the Lake Norman mansion was private, according to Feinberg and Josh Tucker, managing broker at the Lake Norman office of Charlotte-based Corcoran HM Properties.

Tucker represented the De Gorters in the sale, while Mary Beth McIntyre, broker for Belle Properties of Charlotte represented Feinberg.

Because the sale was private, the home did not appear on Canopy MLS, where real estate agents list most all homes for sale in the Charlotte region.

Cornelius-based Business Today first reported the sale.

Views seal the deal

The view of water from every room sold Feinberg on the 12,600-square-foot mansion in the 16100 block of Jetton Road in Cornelius, he told the Observer on Tuesday.

“You don’t see another home,” Feinberg said. “You’re just looking at water,’’ including of the expansive outdoor pool.

The home also has two master suites, an elevator, a barrel tile roof, cast stone details, hardwood and Travertine tile floors and groin vaulted ceilings, according to its listing on Realtor.com.

Feinberg said he has loved being on water since he was a boy. His family lived on a cove of Long Island Sound in Waterford, Connecticut.

When he was 4, he said, his dad bought a Boston Whaler boat, and the pull of the water has stayed with him ever since.

Panthers star’s mansion

The Nov. 12 transaction represented one of the largest home resales ever in the 16-county Charlotte market, Tucker said.

The buyer of a Lake Norman mansion in Mooresville sold for $7.5 million in October 2020, Tucker said.

Carolina Panthers star running back Christian McCaffrey is believed to have been behind the Colorado-based limited liability company that bought the mansion, Grand Lac Chateau, the Observer reported at the time.

McCaffrey’s girlfriend, actress-model and former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, posted a photo on her Instagram page of the couple outside what appeared to be the mansion. The picture showed part of the exterior of a mansion identical to one in photos of Grand Lac Chateau on the HM Properties website.

Tucker said at the time that a non-disclosure agreement he signed barred him from identifying the buyer of the Mooresville mansion.

And NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was believed to be the buyer behind a trust that paid a then-record $7.5 million for a 13,000-square-foot Lincoln County home on Lake Norman in 2012, the Observer reported at the time. The home is in the gated Norman Estates community at the end of Unity Church Road in Denver.

Web Deals Direct and Amazon

Feinberg said he plans to sell the home he owns about a half-mile from the 12,600-square-foot mansion he bought from the De Gorters.

The De Gorters purchased the mansion in 2007 for $4.2 million from Jack Salzman, owner of Lake Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge, and Salzman’s wife, Robin Salzman, county records show.

Feinberg also has a home in Harrisburg in Cabarrus County, which state filings list as the address of his former Web Deals Direct, the e-commerce LLC he co-founded. The company is one of the largest sellers on Amazon.

In July, Feinberg sold Web Deals Direct to Perch, which operates numerous third-party brands on Amazon.

Web Deals Direct generated more than $80 million in annual revenue, Feinberg said in a July news release announcing the company’s sale and on Tuesday in an interview with the Observer. Its brands include home and kitchen, sports and outdoors, arts and crafts, pet supply and office products.

Tech Crunch, an online news site that reports on high-tech and startup companies, estimated that Web Deals Direct sold for between $100 million and $200 million, although terms were private.

Since the sale, Feinberg told the Observer, he started another e-commerce company that sells products on the Amazon store and plans to launch a second one in January.

Other big home sales

Kim Walker, spokeswoman for Canopy MLS, said these home resales rank next-highest so far this year in the Charlotte market, which consists of 16 counties in the Carolinas. All are Lake Norman homes:

▪ 16600 block of Flying Jib Road in Cornelius, $6.25 million.

▪ 100 block of Nathaniel Court in Mooresville, $6.2 million.

▪ 100 block of Broad Sound Place in Mooresville, $6 million.

▪ 16100 block of Jetton Road in Cornelius, $5.4 million.

▪ 100 block of Conway Court in Mooresville, also $5.4 million.