One person’s opinion helped clinch Shawn Bergerson’s purchase of an 11,529-square-foot lakefront house in Orono.
“My dad said, ‘If you can afford it, this is the house you should buy,’” Bergerson said.
Shawn and his wife, Annelie Bergerson, admired the design of the home on Lake Minnetonka’s Maxwell Bay: its soaring ceilings, walls of glass, spacious rooms.
“But what sold us is the privacy, the views and how quiet it is,” Shawn Bergerson said.
The house sits on more than two acres with 300 feet of lakeshore and looks out at Noerenberg Memorial Gardens, part of the Three Rivers Parks system.

The couple and their three sons moved into the house in 2005. But now the sons, aged 24 to 30, are out of the house. Shawn Bergerson, a retired investment manager, and Annelie Bergerson, a former travel agent turned stay-at-home mom, are both 60 and want to be closer to two of their sons who live in Minneapolis. So they’ve relocated to Golden Valley and put the Orono home on the market for $6.25 million.
Striking visual flourishes fill the house: pillars, wainscoting, arched windows, cathedral ceilings with wood paneling.
The primary bedroom on the main floor has a private patio, walk-in closet and recently remodeled bathroom with a steam shower. Other rooms include an informal dining room, wet bar, game room, family room, porch, office, exercise room and two laundry areas. A media room on the walk-out lower level has a high-end sound system and insulation to keep the room soundproof.