CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It s a home once owned by basketball greats Dell Curry and Gerald Wallace. Now, it s undergoing a major makeover, worth more than what the homeowner paid for it.
The south Charlotte mansion used to belong to former Charlotte Hornets player Dell Curry. He built it in 1996.
His boys, now young men, played around and perhaps learned how to play basketball on the home s private court.
Former Bobcats Player Gerald Wallace bought the home in 2005. NBC Charlotte was given an exclusive tour of it when he put it on the market.
A new owner bought the home in October for $1.2 million, according to Zillow. He s spending $1.5 million on renovations inside and out.
James Benham, president of Benham Builders, and the lead on the renovation project explains the challeneges before them.
We had a number of challenges with the house. The owner loved the setting. They saw the potential, said.
But, they wanted to move the master bedroom from upstairs to downstairs and that wasn t easy. Benham and his company found a way to make it happen on the 17-year-old home.
We decided to raise up both levels of the floor so that we would level everything out, he said, We finally settled on expanding the house to the right side and creating a new master bedroom which was one of the challenges.
So, now the former master upstairs can be used for something else like a theater or exercise room.
And then there s the entrance.
Benham said, With the foyer we decided to go out about 20 feet and then create an enormous porte-cochere which is 21 feet by 21 feet, and that created a grand entrance to the house.
In other words, the new homeowner wanted a little more drama with a little flow, too.
The owner said, I want to blow this wall out. We want to make one large room, So we did, said Benham.
We changed the dining room. We enlarged it, Benham added, We created an arched opening which opened it up into the great room. The great room's got 23 foot ceilings.
And that s not all.
When you're in the dining room, actually you can see about 80 feet visually from the end of the kitchen down to the fireplace, said Benham.
The terrace out back was also on the to-do list.
We concreted the entire area. This will get travertine, columns and then a tile ceiling on it. Fireplace right here. We'll have TVs over here. We'll have a kitchen at that end. So, it'll be a full-service outdoor living area when we're finished up, he said, pointing at various areas of the terrace.
Before the renovations, the home was about 8,300 square feet with six bedrooms and eight bathrooms all sitting on 16 acres inside of a gated community.
After, it ll be around 9,300 square feet.
We totally added on almost a thousand square feet between the addition on the master and the grand foyer we put in, said Benham.
It s a project that will no doubt require even more heavy lifting, but it s all in the name of making that dream home a dream come true.
To quote him (the homeowner), he said, This is my last house, said Benham, He wants it to be like he wants it to be.
Benham Builders started the renovation back in February.
It ll take a total of eight months to complete.
