gc
22 September 2003, 11:30 AM
Prosper area expected to flourish
David Wethe - Staff Writer
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2003/09/22/story7.html?page=1
Hoping that the housing boom continues its northward push past Frisco, developers from Dallas and Colleyville recently closed on 292 acres in far Northeast Denton County.
Located just west of the small but growing town of Prosper, the land is plotted for 902 homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000.
Led by Dallas-based Avex Group as the general partner, West Prosper 150 Investment Partners Ltd. bought the land Aug. 18 for $4.8 million from a group of family members led by Walter L. Reynolds and Willie Ray Reynolds, according to Denton County deed records.
The same day, the West Prosper group sold 154 acres of that land to Colleyville developer Robert Beall.
In addition to housing, the land will have about 25 acres of retail at the northeast corner of the property, said Mac Lawson, a partner in the Avex Group.
Although Beall and Lawson said they plan to develop their properties separately, both projected housing construction to start in about two years.
Beall said it would take that long to perform flood-plain and engineering studies.
Located north of U.S. 380, which connects Denton to McKinney, the land is bordered on the north by County Road 48 and on the east by County Line Road, which will be the future extension of Legacy Drive, Lawson said. Construction of Legacy has already begun south of the property, Lawson said.
The 12-year-old Avex Group has been a partner in 30 mixed-use projects around the Metroplex, Houston and Denver, Lawson said.
"We think most of our acquisitions are based on population growth, assuming that the populations are going to continue to grow in Dallas," he said. "These properties are in the path of that eventual expansion."
David Brown, director of the Dallas office for residential consultant Metrostudy, agrees.
"The whole (U.S.) 380 corridor has been getting a lot of attention from homebuilders over the last year or two," Brown said.
The nearby Collin County town of Prosper -- with a population of about 2,700 -- saw a total of 130 housing starts during the 12 months ended June 30 and 55 during the second quarter of 2003, according to Metrostudy.
"Those are still small numbers," Brown said, "but it's showing strong growth numbers overall."
Ted Wilson, a partner in Residential Strategies Inc., said he expects Prosper to be the next logical spot for residential development after Frisco gets built out.
"My expectation is we're going to look up six to 10 years from now and Prosper is going to be the destination spot for custom builders," Wilson said.
Because the recently purchased land is in an unincorporated area of Denton County, water and sewer infrastructure will need to be added to the site, said Beall, who's working on another 119-acre residential project in the city of Denton.
"This isn't where we're going to be able to get houses built on the site real soon," Beall said. "But we just think as the city continues to go north, we want to be positioned for that part of the Metroplex."
Contact DBJ writer David Wethe at dwethe@bizjournals.com or (817) 693-0025.
David Wethe - Staff Writer
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2003/09/22/story7.html?page=1
Hoping that the housing boom continues its northward push past Frisco, developers from Dallas and Colleyville recently closed on 292 acres in far Northeast Denton County.
Located just west of the small but growing town of Prosper, the land is plotted for 902 homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000.
Led by Dallas-based Avex Group as the general partner, West Prosper 150 Investment Partners Ltd. bought the land Aug. 18 for $4.8 million from a group of family members led by Walter L. Reynolds and Willie Ray Reynolds, according to Denton County deed records.
The same day, the West Prosper group sold 154 acres of that land to Colleyville developer Robert Beall.
In addition to housing, the land will have about 25 acres of retail at the northeast corner of the property, said Mac Lawson, a partner in the Avex Group.
Although Beall and Lawson said they plan to develop their properties separately, both projected housing construction to start in about two years.
Beall said it would take that long to perform flood-plain and engineering studies.
Located north of U.S. 380, which connects Denton to McKinney, the land is bordered on the north by County Road 48 and on the east by County Line Road, which will be the future extension of Legacy Drive, Lawson said. Construction of Legacy has already begun south of the property, Lawson said.
The 12-year-old Avex Group has been a partner in 30 mixed-use projects around the Metroplex, Houston and Denver, Lawson said.
"We think most of our acquisitions are based on population growth, assuming that the populations are going to continue to grow in Dallas," he said. "These properties are in the path of that eventual expansion."
David Brown, director of the Dallas office for residential consultant Metrostudy, agrees.
"The whole (U.S.) 380 corridor has been getting a lot of attention from homebuilders over the last year or two," Brown said.
The nearby Collin County town of Prosper -- with a population of about 2,700 -- saw a total of 130 housing starts during the 12 months ended June 30 and 55 during the second quarter of 2003, according to Metrostudy.
"Those are still small numbers," Brown said, "but it's showing strong growth numbers overall."
Ted Wilson, a partner in Residential Strategies Inc., said he expects Prosper to be the next logical spot for residential development after Frisco gets built out.
"My expectation is we're going to look up six to 10 years from now and Prosper is going to be the destination spot for custom builders," Wilson said.
Because the recently purchased land is in an unincorporated area of Denton County, water and sewer infrastructure will need to be added to the site, said Beall, who's working on another 119-acre residential project in the city of Denton.
"This isn't where we're going to be able to get houses built on the site real soon," Beall said. "But we just think as the city continues to go north, we want to be positioned for that part of the Metroplex."
Contact DBJ writer David Wethe at dwethe@bizjournals.com or (817) 693-0025.