A top “World Series of Poker” player known in the 1980s as “Cold Call Cowboy” is betting that his and his wife’s longtime Lake Norman mansion will sell for an unprecedented $16 million.
Robert and Sonya Stevanovski listed their 15,000-square-foot waterfront estate in The Peninsula community in Cornelius for sale on Thursday.
Their custom mansion in the 18000 block of Harbor Light Boulevard is the most expensive listing in Cornelius in the history of Canopy MLS, according to a news release by Florida-based Premier Sotheby’s International Realty on Friday.
Canopy lists homes for sale in Mecklenburg and 25 other counties in the Carolinas.
Sotheby’s didn’t name the seller or say why the home is on the market. The Charlotte Observer identified the Stevanovskis through Mecklenburg County property records and other public documents.
Robert Stevanovski, 58, didn’t reply to a request for comment left on his cell phone by the Observer on Friday. A Sotheby’s spokeswoman didn’t reply to an email.
“Shell” company super PAC donation
Robert Stevanovski co-founded Concord-based American Communications Network Inc., which describes itself as “the world’s largest direct seller of telecommunications, energy and essential services,” the Observer reported in 2014.
Robert Stevanovski made news at the time when a “shell” company tied to the businessman donated $25,000 to a super PAC called Grow NC Strong that supported the U.S. Senate campaign of Thom Tillis. The former GOP state House speaker once lived in Cornelius and now has a lakefront home in neighboring Huntersville.
The donation came from TC Investor LLC of Concord, managed by Praescient, another LLC whose address was a UPS drop box in Concord, according to North Carolina Secretary of State filings. Stevanovski was listed as Praescient’s manager, the Observer reported. He didn’t reply at the time to a request for comment from the newspaper.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Observer in 2014 that such donations are ways donors’ disguise contributions.
“Super PACs ostensibly are fully transparent,” she said. “This is more evidence that that is not true. It makes it very complicated for people to understand the forces behind the effort to sway their vote.”
Crescent Resources sold mansion lot
The Stevanovskis bought the lot for the mansion for $715,500 in 1997 from Crescent Resources Inc., county property tax records show. The couple lived in Rochester, Michigan, at the time, according to the records.
Charlotte-based Crescent Resources, which declared bankruptcy in 2009, was Duke Energy’s longtime real estate development arm. Its successor, Crescent Communities, was acquired in 2018 by Sumitomo Forestry America Inc., a subsidiary of a Japanese firm, the Observer reported at the time.
Simonini Builders built the mansion, according to Sotheby’s. The home was completed in 2006, county records show.
Schonbek chandeliers, groin vault ceilings
The home, its 1.366 acres and features have a total 2022 assessed value of $5,148,800, county property tax records show.
The mansion has six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 12- to 30-foot groin vault ceilings and waterfront views from almost every room, according to its listing.
The interior includes Schonbek chandeliers, marble-travertine, five-inch walnut flooring and custom mill work.
Other features include a mirrored elevator, a safe room, sun room, library, game room, fitness area, ballroom, two offices and a suspended staircase to the upper level, the listing shows.
Multiple terraces, balconies, patios
Habersham artisans made the gourmet kitchen, which includes double over-sized islands and granite counter tops, and an adjacent walk-in chef’s pantry, according to its listing.
The mansion has multiple terraces, balconies and private patios, a saltwater pool with glass tile imported from Spain, a spa, fountain, pool house, outdoor kitchen and five-car garage.
This story was originally published August 26, 2022 10:43 PM.
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