Family to seek town OK to convert their 2 Lake Norman mansions into events venue
A family is moving forward with plans to convert their two Lake Norman mansions into an events venue — which riled neighbors when first proposed nearly a year ago.
The Griffin family has spent months meeting with neighbors and refining their plan before they seek town zoning approval, Cornelius Senior Planner Aaron Tucker told The Charlotte Observer at Town Hall on Thursday, before a meeting of the town’s Architectural Review Board.
The family was scheduled to detail the venue design to the board but canceled at the last minute, saying they were still working on the plan with neighbors, Tucker said. The board is an advisory panel that reviews design plans and makes recommendations on the projects to the Cornelius Planning Board.
The Griffins could go before the Architectural Review Board on March 26, seek a rezoning recommendation from the Cornelius Planning Board in April and soon after, request final rezoning approval from the Cornelius Board of Commissioners, Tucker said.
“Cater to high-end clientele”
Larry Griffin Jr.’s plan for his family’s estates includes a 6,000-square-foot events center between their homes. The original plan included 103 parking spaces — the latest one calls for 150 spaces, Tucker said.
The mansions overlook the lake on 8.6 acres in the 18300 block of Nantz Road, which dead-ends at the lake. The road is off West Catawba Avenue and Interstate 77 exit 28.
Called Sunset Cove, the venue would host weddings and other special events, Tucker said in a memo to the Architectural Review Board.
The mansions would remain as they are, Tucker said.
“Their use will remain residential in nature and will be primarily limited to lodging and low-impact uses,” Tucker said in an email to the Observer. “The homes may also accommodate overnight stays for families hosting private events at Sunset Cove.”
Larry Griffin Jr. has indicated that his family plans to build new homes on three single-family lots west of the proposed event venue location and move out of the two existing homes, Tucker said.
Griffin and his brother Mike revealed their Sunset Cove plans at a Cornelius Board of Commissioners meeting in April 2025.
“We’ll cater to a higher-end clientele,” Mike Griffin, whose family members live in the mansions, told the board, according to a recording of the meeting posted by the town on social media. “No ‘Animal House’-type events.”
“Plus, we’re the closest neighbors,” Larry Griffin Jr. said, meaning his family wouldn’t tolerate a rowdy venue.
Larry Griffin Jr. and his wife, Virginia, own one of the homes. His father, Larry Griffin Sr., and mother, Sheree, own the other mansion, Mecklenburg County public tax records show.
The proposed events venue “really is just to preserve this land for generations of our families,” Mike Griffin said. “It’s our homestead preservation plan.”
The Griffin properties border the forested southern end of county-owned Ramsey Creek Park and lie across a cove from the peninsula that includes the park’s public swimming beach.
A mansion owned and torn down by NBA great Michael Jordan, presumably to build a bigger home, also is across the cove from the Griffin mansions.
Neighbors opposed
At least year’s town board meeting, Cornelius commissioners heard from five neighbors concerned about the proposal in their residential community.
“We’ve had people spin around on our lawn,” Nantz Road resident Ken Miller said, referring to beach goers. “The police have done a helluva job keeping things straight, but they can’t keep up with it.”
Neighbors worried the venue would mean more congestion and wrecks and lower property values.
Among proposed improvements to the site plan over the months, the Griffins added an exit-only road from the property, Tucker said Thursday. The original plan had only one way for drivers to both enter and exit. The proposed exit also offers better sight distance for drivers leaving the venue, he said.
Mansions worth a combined $8.4 million
The idea for the venue sprung from a family wedding on the properties, Mike Griffin told the commissioners last year.
As the family becomes empty nesters and downsizes, “we realized it’s a wonderful place to share on a limited use with others that could have the same opportunity,” Mike Griffin said.
Sunset Cove would host about 12 events a year and smaller corporate events, according to the family’s zoning change request.
“It’s a really unique property in that the sound buffering from the 43-acre park that’s heavily forested is just a perfect site for this,” Mike Griffin said.
The venue would be similar to the one at Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte, which the Griffins own and manage, Mike Griffin said. The families would still live on the properties, he said.
Built in 2008, Larry and Virginia Griffin’s two-story, 9,362-square-foot home on Nantz Road has a 2025 assessed value of $4.1 million, according to county tax records.
The home has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, stucco and hardcoat exterior walls, a $40,000 terrace, a $3,700 covered pier, $8,800 boat slip, $31,400 pool and $8,000 spa-tub, its tax listing shows.
Built in 2001, Larry Sr. and Sheree Griffin’s home on Nantz Road is valued at $4.3 million.
The two-story, 9,619-square-foot home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a $19,100 pool, $15,800 deck and $10,200 spa-tub, tax records show. The home also has stucco-hardcoat exterior walls.
Family business ventures
The family’s Charlotte-based Griffin Brothers Cos. started in 1961 when Larry Griffin Sr. opened the first Griffin Brothers Tire Sales store, according to the company website.
The company later expanded into commercial and residential real estate development. Griffin Bros. developed such properties as the Harris-Teeter-anchored Waterside Crossing mixed-use community at N.C. 16 and N.C. 73 in eastern Lincoln County near Lake Norman and Mosaic Village in Charlotte, which includes housing for students at Johnson C. Smith University.
Griffin Bros. also acquired and developed landfills in the Carolinas.