The Boston Mansion Al Horford Just Listed for 15 Million Has Been Empty Since October

A private island on Lake Norman just closed for $12.5 million and broke every record Huntersville had ever set. That part is already being reported.

What is not being reported is the family who built it, why they are finally letting it go, and what this sale actually says about where the Lake Norman luxury market is heading right now.

This one is worth slowing down for.

The Island That Was Never Really For Sale

Merancas Island was not built to be flipped. It was built to be a family home.

Philanthropists Anke and Casey Mermans bought the 4.5-acre plot on Lake Norman for $1.5 million in the 1990s.

They commissioned architect Harry Schrader to design the mansion, which was completed in 2000. For the next two decades, it stayed in the family.

The grandkids would take kayaks across the lake. Holidays were spent there. It was that kind of property.

Casey Mermans passed away in February at age 87. The island, which had already been listed and pulled once, quietly found a buyer within nine days of its second relisting.

A Three-Year Price Journey That Most Articles Skip

Here is the part that tells the full story.

The island was first listed in 2023 for $22 million. That price would have made it one of the most expensive homes ever sold in North Carolina. It did not sell.

By 2024, the price had dropped to $15 million before the listing was pulled from the market entirely. New agents, Liza Caminiti and Julien Barker with Ivester Jackson, took over.

They updated the landscaping, exterior trim, and some interior design elements before relisting in late April 2026 at $13.99 million.

It went under contract on May 7. It closed June 15 at $12.5 million, which is 89% of the final asking price.

That is a $9.5 million drop from where it started three years ago. And it still broke every local record on the books.

The Mermans built their wealth through Photo Corporation of America, a North Carolina portrait company launched in the 1960s, before going on to found the Merancas Foundation in 1989, a philanthropic organization focused on education, housing, and economic hardship support.

What You Actually Get for $12.5 Million

The main house is 13,000 square feet. Three bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms. Designed by Harry Schrader with natural woods, elaborate stonework, vaulted ceilings, and expansive windows that frame the lake from almost every room.

Inside: a gym, temperature-controlled wine room, indoor courtyard with a pool, sunroom, sauna, and waterfall.

The primary suite has a hidden bookcase door that opens into a reading loft with a spiral staircase down to the great room. That detail alone tells you what kind of person Schrader was designing for.

Outside: a koi pond, dog run, tennis court, private beach, and two docks. The guest house adds another two bedrooms and a full kitchen. Total living space across the property is over 14,300 square feet. Six garages. Boat storage on site.

It is only accessible by boat or private road. There is no casual drive-by.

Properties like this rarely exist in the same category as anything else on the market.

Castle Impossible recently showed what it looks like when a family tries to renovate and actually live inside an extraordinary estate at the same time, and the honest answer is: even the most spectacular homes are complicated to maintain at scale.

Merancas Island had that quality. Lived in for decades. Difficult to hand over.

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Why This Matters

This sale rewrote the record books for Huntersville, and not by a small margin.

Prior to this transaction, Huntersville’s most expensive property had sold for $4.6 million in January 2022. A $15 million sale in April set a new regional benchmark.

And now Merancas Island closed at $12.5 million, cementing Huntersville’s place in the upper tier of North Carolina luxury real estate.

Lake Norman is not a market anymore that surprises people with big numbers. It has been moving this way for a while.

Ultra-luxury homes have consistently outperformed expectations, with waterfront scarcity, architectural significance, and lifestyle amenities driving values that bear little resemblance to the surrounding market.

What makes this sale specifically interesting is the human story attached to it. Not every property at this price point carries the kind of history Merancas Island does.

Most ultra-luxury listings are either new builds or investor flips. This one was a family compound, built by philanthropists, lived in for over two decades, and finally released only after the patriarch passed.

That kind of provenance matters to a certain buyer. It also explains why the property sold in nine days after sitting for three years.

Celebrity homes and high-profile listings have a way of carrying the story of whoever built them. Dolly Parton’s former California hideaway hit the market at $2 million with its own windmill, and the personality embedded in that property is exactly what made people pay attention.

And Gene Hackman’s former Los Angeles mansion came with a history that genuinely surprised people when it listed for $6 million. The right story will always find the right buyer. It just takes time.

Key Takeaways

• Merancas Island, Huntersville NC, sold June 15, 2026 for $12.5 million, a new local record
• Originally listed at $22 million in 2023, the final sale was $9.5 million below that initial ask
• 4.5 acres on Lake Norman, accessible only by boat or private road
• 13,000 sq ft main house plus 1,700 sq ft guest house, totaling over 14,300 sq ft of living space
• Designed by architect Harry Schrader, completed in 2000
• Owners Anke and Casey Mermans built the island as a family home and philanthropy base
• Casey Mermans passed away in February 2026 at age 87
• Property went under contract in just 9 days after relisting in April 2026
• The buyer’s identity has not been disclosed

What do you think: does a property like this get harder or easier to sell because of the family history attached to it? And is $12.5 million a fair price, or did the buyer get a genuine deal? Drop your take in the comments.

Wrapping Up

Merancas Island was never just real estate. It was a place the Mermans family built intentionally, lived in for decades, and gave to causes they believed in. The price cuts were steep. The wait was long. But the sale happened.

For the right buyer, nine days was all it took.

If this kind of story is what you are looking for, Build Like New covers high-profile real estate, luxury market moves, and the human side of big transactions. Worth bookmarking if you want more than just the headline.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available reports at the time of publication.