See inside this $2.4 million Charlotte-area home with lake views and blue heron neighbors

For decades, Gary Phillips looked forward to returning to his secluded, peaceful waterfront sanctuary after constantly being away on business.

His $2.4 million home and estate overlooks a Lake Wylie cove with little or no boat traffic. Blue heron, hawks, eagles and geese are his neighbors. It’s hard to imagine the home is just about 20 miles from uptown Charlotte.

The 6,943-square-foot home has 330 feet of waterfront, a deeded dock, three large patios with 2,000 total feet of decking, and all-insulated glass windows to look out onto the lake.

“I’m having a hard time parting with it,” Phillips told The Charlotte Observer in a phone interview Tuesday, four days after putting his home at 207 Riverview Terrace on the market.

“I’m 75,” said Phillips, who plans to live in a home he has in Florida. “It’s time.”

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Corporate cottage ‘completely gutted’

Phillips was a longtime independent sales rep in the Southeast for manufacturers of building materials and windows.

His Lake Wylie property originally had only a small cottage used since the 1950s for corporate meetings, Phillips said. The lot has up to 12 parking spaces as a result, he said.

He bought the property in 1989 for the lot, and eventually “completely gutted” the cottage, doing “a total redo” in 2000-2001.

Phillips has always liked that he can also access amenities of the private River Hills Country Club community that borders his 0.67 acres, he said. “Technically,” he said, his property lies a foot outside the country club’s.

The way Phillips’ land is situated, “the property is almost like an island by itself,” Charlotte Realtor Russ Bogue said.

Bogue and Bradley Patton are the listing agents for the property with Coldwell Banker Realty’s South End-Dilworth office.

The home has a cedar and stone veneer and an over-sized four-car tandem garage. The land gently slopes down to the cove.

Inside features include a large stone fireplace and sun room, floor-to-ceiling windows and a first-floor master suite with his and hers ensuite baths and a spa-like shower.

Two other rooms can be used as a home office, gym or guest room.

The home has tile and wood floors, insulated doors and windows, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a half-bathroom.

Sound of silence

A 15-foot-long center kitchen island has a counter top of black granite from Brazil. The bird cage-style wrought iron for the “floating staircase” in the home came from Italy.

Outside, the deck railing mirrors that of homes in the historic Battery section of Charleston, S.C., he said.

And the only thing you ever hear is silence.

Phillips quipped that the birds and waterfowl are his noisiest neighbors. Few boats traverse his cove, and local regulations require they be at idle speed if they do.

His voice cracked ever so slightly as he explained that it was time to sell.

“It’s just a sanctuary,” he said.