You can now rent the house in the middle of Upper Prior Lake

Prior Lake American

For those who have sipped a crisp mimosa on the deck of Charlie’s on Prior on a summer morning and looked out across the churning waters of Upper Prior Lake, Lone Tree Island is impossible to miss.

It’s an enigma — the house at the middle of the lake. Now, that three-bedroom, one-bathroom enigma is available to rent.

The house is owned by Prior Lake resident Mike Pellicci and Apple Valley resident John Pellicci. The brothers bought the house in 2017 after seeing a “for sale” sign while cruising the lake in a pontoon.

“Saw it, called the realtor, walked through it and ended up buying it,” Mike Pellicci said. “It was a relatively standard procedure.”

The house was up for sale after the previous owner’s death, whose father originally built the house. According to stories that Mike and John Pellicci have heard, the house was destroyed by storms twice before the father rebuilt it to withstand major weather-related issues.

“The guts of the building were really sturdy,” Mike Pellicci said. “The walls are like, 12 inches thick. It’s built very, very tough because it’s so open out there.”

In the summer of 2014, the lake flooded the city due to heavy rain and slow lake drainage. At its peak, the lake reached 907 feet — and though the water made Lone Tree Island itself much smaller, a drop never reached the house.

“We didn’t change the structure at all,” John Pellicci said. “Zero on the structure. ... It was consistent with our expectations. It’s never had any flooding issues, which is kind of cool.”

The Pellicci brothers spent the past year updating the space. This included tearing out the carpet and replacing it with tile and vinyl, making the kitchen and bathroom more modern, replacing the electrical work, adding WiFi and more. A fire pit and a new dock were installed as well as repairs made to the wraparound deck outdoors.

“We basically just updated it is all we really did,” Mike Pellicci said. “We didn’t change any walls. ... It was so well built.”

At first, it was logistically complex. For several months of the year, the house is inaccessible when the ice is unsafe. Then, there’s the other items that couldn’t be simply transported on a pontoon, like slabs of rock or landscaping equipment.

“Initially, it’s a little overwhelming, like how do I get sprayers out to paint and stuff like that?” John Pellicci said. “Now that we have a little more experience, it actually has become pretty simple.”

For that, the community stepped in to help. Knotty Oar Marina, TK Marine Co. and Priority Dock let the brothers borrow barges to carry some of the heavier equipment and materials.

“It’s a little community, Prior Lake, and it acted that way — so that was very helpful,” Mike Pellicci said. “It was invaluable.”

With the help, the brothers eventually began to figure it out. Finally, in early June, the house was ready to rent. The brothers hired a property manager to take care of the rental side.

“We’re still figuring out if we’re going to rent it out or let it sit in the winter, but we’ve thought there’d be demand for ice fishermen, snowmobilers, football weekends — it’d be fun to be out there in the winter,” Mike Pellicci said.

The home is available to rent for a week at a time for $3,500 per week, though Mike and John Pellicci said they’re hoping people will rent it for longer. The vision is that the island will be a getaway for families (including dogs), fully stocked with paddle boards, paddle boats, kayaks and more.

“That’s the goal, is to make it a fun, family week, vacation spot,” John Pellicci said.

The brothers aren’t planning to provide boat rentals and are expecting that most of the renters will have their own. The property includes a dock with parking on the main land.

“If you’re out at the island and you want to go to dinner at Perron’s, which is downtown Prior Lake, you can drive the boat to our dock, tie up and hop in your car and go to the grocery store, go out to dinner or whatever,” Mike Pellicci said.

For those who don’t have boats, the brothers will point them to a rental place nearby.

Owning the building has been a distinct experience, John Pellicci said.

“It’s been a really interesting process — the novelty of owning it,” John Pellicci said. “It’s so unique. You can’t really replicate it. This has been really fun to own.”

The house can sleep six people and incldues a king bed, a queen bed and two single beds spanning three bedrooms.

“It’s good fishing, it’s great swimming, you’ve got Charlie’s right across there for lunches or ice cream,” Mike Pellicci said. “It’ll be a riot. ... For us, when we were younger kids, if Mom or Dad would have brought us there for a family vacation — what a blast.”

For more information about how to rent the house, the island has a Facebook page: “Lone Tree Island on Prior Lake.”