Sorry to say, but places like this penthouse condo at 230 S. Tryon aren’t created with a few weekend trips to Crate and Barrel. You better believe it takes a village to design a condo as fabulous as this. Fred Gregory of Charlotte-based LS3P Associates Ltd. led the way as the interior architect and designer. Gaye Mitchum of Gaye Mitchum Design Group was also there every step of the way, helping make sure the place really reflected the owner's taste and style.
The owner? Well, I can give you a few clues: he’s not a Bobcat, Panther, NASCAR driver, or banker, but he is loaded. He made his millions through a website business that features adult entertainment and is based right here in lil’ ole Charlotte. He’s a bachelor and had this place designed with that idea in mind.
Anyway, I had never been inside 230 S. Tryon, and I was late to the appointment, so imagine my embarrassment when I tried to barrel through the lobby doors. “Tried” being the operative word. I should have known. Access into the building is tightly controlled by a staff of very well dressed doormen, some of whom, I’m told, come straight from New York City’s 5th Avenue. I guess the implication there is that New York City doormen really know their stuff, and these guys are at the top of their game. I bet they could tell some stories, but that’s for a different article. The lobby is gorgeous and wide open. It’s contemporary with an art-deco twist. The doormen are great and friendly and take their work very seriously. Everything is lovely. Shane McDevitt, Uptown Realtor to the stars, lends me his special key fob to get to the penthouse on the 13th floor. We zip up and step out into, if I’m being honest, a pretty boring hallway. We twist and turn a few times down the hall and land in front of a double door entrance with two big silver wreaths. The place is ready for the holidays.
We knock, and one of the designer’s assistants opens the door. I step out of the boring hallway and into the condo and whistle: are we in Los Angeles? New York? Miami? Nope. The place is fit for a king, but we are still in the Queen City.
McDevitt, Uptown Editor Todd Trimakas, our film crew and I tumble into the foyer. (Uptown Magazine has invoked the “MTV Cribs” gods and goddesses; you can see the 13th floor penthouse at 230 S. Tryon for yourself online now at www.uptownclt.com.) I feel like everyone in our little entourage is trying to act like they aren’t impressed with the place, but I’ve never been one to hide my feelings. I turn to Alicia—one of the film crew-- and whisper “Is this place FOR REAL?” She kind of nods and then floats away, distracted, as we all are, by the sheer luxury of the place.
There’s brick-laid limestone flooring throughout the foyer. To the left is a powder room. I never thought I’d refer to a powder room as sleek and sexy, but this powder room is. It’s dark and modern and feels more like a lounge than a lavatory.
In this four thousand square-foot home, there’s plenty of room for a guest wing, and this wing features two bedrooms with a private balcony for each, a laundry area, and a home office space. I peek into each room quickly and feel like I’m staring at the cover of a “Miami Living” magazine. It’s boutique hotel to the max: crisp colors, funky lines, modern lighting.
Back in the foyer, there’s a 180-degree view of Uptown. Most of the entire wall directly in front of me is glass, with the exception of two 300-gallon saltwater tanks on either side of the room. The owner didn’t want fish that required a lot of attention (he doesn’t strike me as the coddling type), so he had each tank filled with live coral and “the fish from Nemo” which includes orange and white striped clownfish, blue tang, and butterfly fish. The fish are fed twice a week (and a private fish-feeding company handles that duty).
The boutique hotel theme –-with a bachelor twist--continues in the great room. Comfy, custom-made sofas and chairs surround a massive flat screen TV that hangs over the fireplace at one end of the room. At the other end of the great room is where a dining area might be, but instead there are two custom-made poker tables with custom-made poker playing chairs around each. The view to the TV is unobstructed, and the built-in stereo surround means you won’t miss any of the audio action. It’s funny; this place is the ultimate bachelor pad, but it was a woman who had a big hand in putting it all together. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, Gaye Mitchum is a petite blonde with more energy than Duke Power.
Mitchum thought ahead with this whole dining-area-turned-poker-room. She designed the tables so they can be pushed together for a proper meal if, in the future, our bachelor finds Ms. Right.
Fireball Mitchum is thirsty, so we scoot into the kitchen for some water. Wow. There’s one wall full of European-style cabinetry to hold the kitchen gadgets and gizmos, but the rest of the place is entirely enclosed in glass. There’s a massive--and I mean MASSIVE-- concrete-topped island with bar-style seating along one side and custom lighting throughout. There’s a steamer, a warmer, a wine cooler, a Miele coffee/cappuccino maker. There’s a commercial-grade Wolf range and a Sub-Zero glass-front fridge. Mitchum darts over and reaches in for some water while telling me this Sub-Zero is the same Sub-Zero all the Hollywood celebrities have in their homes. It’s probably filled with the same stuff, too, from the looks of it: bottles of water, beer, Red Bull, Sprite, and about half a dozen yogurt parfaits from Dean & Deluca. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder runs rampant in the fridge: the beverages are arranged by type with labels facing out.
The best part of the kitchen is that there’s a second kitchen. For the days when a Red Bull and yogurt parfait won’t cut it, there’s another mini-kitchen tucked behind one wall where the caterer or the homeowner or whoever can actually prepare and cook food while keeping the mess out of sight. It’s not just a butler’s pantry. There’s another fridge, freezer, dishwasher, sink, and pantry. It’s kind of mind-boggling: two kitchens? Just off the kitchens, there’s a “Miami-style” balcony big enough for a table and four chairs, two chaise lounges, a grill, some bar stools, two Christmas trees, and a water fountain. And a partridge in a pear tree.
The Uptown entourage traipses into the master suite. By now we’ve expanded to include the homeowner, his business partner and at least three assistants, who’ve been instructed to take off their shoes because their heels “clack clack clack” on the floors (which in the master bedroom are hardwood). There’s also another fireplace, a floor-to-ceiling leather headboard, and linens actually made out of linen and trimmed in leather: this place is macho to the max. There’s a really cool rug Mitchum tells me is called “Rocks” and it really does look like little pebbles all over the floor. There’s a breakfast bar with another sink and a little fridge and freezer in case you roll out of bed and just can’t manage to drag yourself into the “real kitchen/mini kitchen” kitchen.
Further back in the master suite, you’ll pass a fully loaded sauna room. A separate toilet room comes complete with a very expensive-looking designer urinal (remember, this place is a bachelor pad) and a remote control toilet with a heated seat.
Oh, I forgot: next to the bed is a pair of Prada lounge shoes, but the owner doesn’t need them in the master bathroom because the marble floors are heated. There are designer “floating” vanities, and a soaking tub with a water spigot that comes straight out of the ceiling! It’s pretty cool and we all take turns turning the faucet on and off and watching the water fall from the sky. There’s a heated towel rack, and a TV above the tub that doubles as a mirror when it’s not powered on.
The bachelor’s closet is just like the celebrity Sub-Zero fridge: it had some very lovely trimmings, but not a lot of “meat.” Typical guy. Good news about that: there are lots of empty shelves for Ms. Right to move right on in.
Our final stop on this tour of glam luxury is the media room, where we find yet another fireplace complete with hand-laid limestone surround. There’s another flat screen TV, a custom cabinet that houses all the audiovisual equipment, and a custom-built leather sofa. Each section of the sofa reclines, and it’s built to ease even the most twisted of spines; a brain surgeon designed it. No kidding.
Mitchum tells me the fully stocked commercial-grade bar in the media room is just like any bar you’d find in Ruth’s Chris or Capital Grille. (There’s also a margarita machine that Dorne, the videographer, points out you can get at Target, but from the look on Mitchum’s face, that margarita machine is NOT from Target.) There’s another table in here, surrounded by cobalt blue lounge chairs. Despite the mellow feel of the condo, Mitchum says she made sure there were punches of color all over the place to liven it up, from the cobalt chairs to the beautiful artwork all over the walls.
To sum it all up, this place looks like a million bucks. And, coincidentally, that’s exactly what it cost the designers and architects to build the condo. Wouldn’t it be nice?
With nothing left to drool over, it’s time to head out. We say our goodbyes to Mitchum, the owner and his business partner, and the bevy of shoeless assistants and skedaddle from the luxurious condo of a self-made millionaire. We pour out into the quiet hallway, down toward the elevator, through the gracious lobby, past the elegant doormen, and out into the hustle and bustle of South Tryon Street on a workday to leave behind a penthouse condo fit for a king, right here in the Queen City.
*Editor’s note: Sadly, the supremely talented Fred Gregory of LS3P Associates Ltd. passed away recently after battling cancer. This incredible penthouse condo at 230 S. Tryon was one of his final projects.
