A TROPICAL ISLAND THAT’S FIT FOR A PRINCE

A family in Charlotte, N.C., is offering stays at their two mansions in the tropical Turks and Caicos islands, including one formerly owned by musical legend Prince. The price of a night’s stay? It’s $12,000 to $36,000, depending on the season and whether you lease one or both mansions, which overlook the turquoise waters of a private bay in the Atlantic Ocean, 575 miles southeast of Miami.

Tom Barnes, who owns a Charlotte-based private-equity firm, made headlines in The Wall Street Journal and other media in 2019 when he bought Prince’s former mansion on Providenciales, the third-largest island in Turks and Caicos, for $10.8 million. The prolific singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist died at age 57 in 2016 in his home state of Minnesota of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl.

Barnes, 54, idolized the musician as a teen growing up poor in the early 1980s, he told The Charlotte Observer. He said he never imagined one day owning one of the star’s mansions.

In 2021, Barnes and his wife, Sharon, also bought the mansion next door to Prince’s for over $8 million, he said. In all, the couple put $30 million into the properties, including refurbishments and upgrades. Damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017 required extensive repairs, Barnes said.

The couple preserved special features that marked Prince’s time in the mansion, including the purple driveway, his large dining room mirrors and various memorabilia, said Barnes, who painted the tennis courts purple.

Clients have mostly been entertainers, Barnes told the Observer.

The mansions have a combined 17 bedrooms. Seven of the eight bedrooms in Prince’s former mansion have ocean views, the other bedroom a marina view.

Celebrity chef Adrian Forte and a chef who cooked for Prince prepare guests’ meals, Barnes said. Three butlers tend to clients, and the eight-acre resort has security guards 24/7, though it’s in a secluded, extremely safe area, he said. The mansions are located on a peninsula, with a cliff on one side and a bay with a private beach on the other, where guests snorkel and paddleboard.

SEAN BRADY EMARA PROPERTIES VIA TNS The owner of a two-mansion property on a private bay in the Turks and Caicos islands has started leasing the homes, one of which was formerly owned by Prince.