Real estate magnate Donald Trump planned to spend most of Saturday at his namesake golf course near Mooresville, looking over plans at the site that has undergone many renovations in the past year.

And it’s perhaps no surprise that the developer and celebrity pitchman has high praise for the project.

“It’s got to be one of the hottest places around,” Trump told the Observer after a speaking engagement in Charlotte. “I think we have the best golf club in North Carolina. I don’t think there’s anything as good.”

Trump’s organization bought The Point Lake and Golf Club off Brawley School Road last year. The 900-lot community and club had once been operated by Crescent Resources, but the company transferred ownership to residents in late 2011.

In addition to paying $3 million for the club, the Trump organization pledged to spend millions on improvements. It was renamed Trump National Golf Club, Charlotte.

Trump said the work included rebuilding the Greg Norman-designed golf course, which he says should be finished shortly. Norman will appear at a ribbon cutting once the project is complete, Trump said.

Other renovations include adding a large ballroom fronting the lake that can be used for weddings or other events. Restaurants and kitchens on the property also have been revamped, and a new clock tower is being built.

“It’s been amazing,” Trump said, adding that property values in the area also have risen. He planned to spend most of the day reviewing plans at the site.

Trump also owns 12 other golf courses across the United States, in Puerto Rico and Scotland. He says the Lake Norman course has “got to be as good as there is anywhere in the country” and called its location along the water unique.

“It’s a masterpiece,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.”

Trumps says he plans to be in the area a lot during the spring and summer, noting that it’s a good halfway stop between his home in New York and other properties he has in Florida.

The Lake Norman golf course is the Trump organization’s first project in the Charlotte area.

In 2007, Trump was eyeing Charlotte for a potential mixed-use development in the 600 block of South Tryon Street, across from the Observer that would include an office tower, and possibly condos, a hotel and retail. But he pulled the plan, saying he saw the project as risky because of the heavy reliance on the banking industry in uptown. Crescent is now planning a project in the block.

Asked about other possible investments in the state, Trump says he is looking at another project in North Carolina, though not in the immediate Charlotte area. “I don’t want to take the bloom off the rose,” he said. “We’ve done so well with what we’ve done at The Point that I want to let that be a focal point.”

So where else is he looking?

“Let me say that to you in a month,” Trump said. “I like to make deals before I start talking about them.”