How Pike Properties is elevating Charlotte’s luxury home market through creativity, technology, and thoughtful design
Established in 2008, Pike Properties has evolved into one of Charlotte’s premier luxury home builders and real estate developers, redefining residential living through exceptional design, craftsmanship, and innovation. Founded by friends Matt Connolly and Anthony Moore, the company combines Matt’s expertise in design and construction with Anthony’s leadership in acquisitions and capital management to deliver homes that are as functional as they are visually striking.
Specializing in high-end custom residences, thoughtfully designed speculative homes, and architecturally distinctive infill developments, Pike Properties has become synonymous with modern farmhouse and transitional luxury designs. With curated interiors, premium finishes, and a deep understanding of today’s luxury lifestyle, the company has earned a strong reputation among homeowners, shaping the city’s evolving luxury housing market with homes that blend timeless elegance, creativity, and enduring value. Matt sits down with Modern Home Builders to share Pike Properties’ story.
“Pike Properties is a residential luxury spec builder based in Charlotte, North Carolina. We started up in 2008 right when everything crashed,” he begins. “Prior to that, I was in the copier business and had been working in Florida for around six years. It was a good business, but I wasn’t too keen on what I was doing. However, I was lucky enough to work myself into an equity position in the company. I would sit there watching house flip shows and wondering ‘could I do something like that?’ I wasn’t a contractor, but I was handy.
“From there, I bought my first foreclosure,” Matt recounts. “There wasn’t a grand scheme in place – I just wanted to buy an ugly house and fix it up. Soon after I started out, I took the plunge and moved back to Charlotte.
“My business partner, Anthony, was in real estate,” he continues. “We were best friends in college and had always stayed in touch. He didn’t love what he was doing either and saw the opportunity to do something different together, so he moved in with me, along with his fiancé and dog, to start the business. We both worked on the house and flipped it, but figured out that we couldn’t be contractors.
“We educated ourselves on how to build a business. Over the next five years, we took on new projects, but hired general contractors to do the work, and it all just snowballed from there. We grew from doing remodels to large additions, new construction, and, eventually, high-end homes.
“Now, every home we build is a spec; we often pre-sell our models, but the design is solely driven by us. We get the creative freedom to do what we want with our projects, though we’re very mindful of making sure that, when we do build into an established neighborhood, the home fits the area accordingly.”
Today, Matt and Anthony work closely alongside their small but mighty team to make homeowners’ dreams come true: Dylan Giorgio (Architectural Draftsman), Pete Wilkinson (Construction Manager), Job Redman (Project Manager), and Allison Redman (Office Manager), with their dog, Sully, boosting morale. Each team member brings an invaluable skillset to the business that has been integral to its growth and evolution. Three years ago, for example, when Dylan joined the business, Pike Properties was able to bring its architectural design capabilities in-house. Whether designing homes for its own brand or for other homebuilders, the company’s construction expertise as a luxury builder allows it to design with purpose – a rare perspective supplies a significant advantage in the home design space. Partnering homebuilders can choose from one of Pike Properties’ existing plans or design their own bespoke models. The business boasts a significant library of home plans that offer a great starting point, making only slight modifications to accommodate the unique needs of a buyer or homebuilder.
While Pike Properties’ success is driven by the expertise and collaboration of its close-knit team, the company also embraces innovative technology to streamline its processes. By combining skilled craftsmanship with AI-powered tools, Pike Properties has found new ways to improve efficiency without compromising the quality and attention to detail that define its work.
“We’ve embraced AI over the last couple of years,” Matt elaborates. “All of the architectural designing for our homes is done by Dylan in-house, who would design all of our renderings on 3ds Max. It’s a really sophisticated rendering software, but it took us a week to complete a single rendering. Now, we’re using a software called Render and, what used to take us a week, now takes us a day at most. It’s a text-to-AI software, so we’ll give it a view of the home from the outside and explain what we want it to create and it’ll build the rendering itself. It’s not as perfect as when we’re controlling every detail, but it gets us 95 percent of the way there and gives us a good quality rendering to work from. It saves us a lot of time.”
The efficiencies gained through new technology allow the Pike Properties team to spend more time where it matters most – in thoughtful planning, creative problem-solving, and delivering exceptional homes. This approach is excellently illustrated in one of the business’ most recent projects – a Scandinavian modern home – 4110 Melchor Avenue.
“We built this home in an established neighborhood that we already do a lot of work in – Cotswold,” Matt details. “It was a really beautiful lot, but also a challenging one in that we had some topography issues that we had to work through. We spent a lot of time making sure that the house was positioned well from an elevation standpoint, and now it sits beautifully up on a knoll. The architecture was new to us. We’d designed a home for a builder for the Parade of Homes in Raleigh, and this house very much had a similar vibe to what we created there. It’s probably the most modern home we’ve ever done.”
While each home reflects Pike Properties’ commitment to innovation, craftsmanship, and thoughtful design, the company’s vision extends far beyond the homes themselves. With its heart firmly rooted in the city of Charlotte, the company is passionate about investing in the community it calls home.
“We’ve been fortunate to find success in our business, so Anthony and I wanted to find a way to give back to Charlotte – a city that’s given us so much,” Matt emphasizes. “We developed the Pike Foundation, where every home we sell becomes a catalyst for a donation to a non-profit; we donate $1 per square foot of the house back to a local charity. It’s heartwarming for us and we love doing it.”
Now approaching 20 years in business, Pike Properties has a clear vision for the future. The company’s passion for creating homes that enhance both neighborhoods and communities will continue to leave its mark on Charlotte’s evolving residential landscape for many more years to come.