As the founder of South Street Partners, a private equity real estate investment firm based in Charlotte, N.C., and Charleston, S.C., Mr. Melton, 48, oversees a portfolio of residential golf developments in the Carolinas and Virginia, including Kiawah Island, near Charleston; Palmetto Bluff, near Savannah, S.C.; and the Cliffs, seven lake and mountain communities between Asheville and Greenville, S.C.