COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — This story was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original version here.
A Collin County-based real estate investment firm has completed its acquisition of the largest unentitled tract outside McKinney, but according to a local housing expert, plenty of land remains available for future development.
Ted Wilson, principal of consulting firm Residential Strategies Inc., said “there's still land,” but he is unsure if they are of similar size to the 2,452-acre tract Old Prosper Partners LLC purchased on Sept. 17.
The property, known as the Colmena Ranch, is split by 8 miles of frontage on the Collin County Outer Loop, which is the major east-west thoroughfare connecting the Dallas North Tollway to U.S. Route 75 in the northern part of the county.
Old Prosper Partner's Teague Griffin is currently working with the city of McKinney on “agreements” and construction is not expected to begin until 2027, Griffin said. The development, which Wilson said could take a decade or more to complete, aims to create a large residential community with some mixed-used elements. The firm mainly focuses its ventures in Collin and Denton counties, Griffin said.
"I think the magnitude of [the developments] are probably not quite as big as what you've seen with Colmena [Ranch]," Wilson said.
An announcement from Old Prosper Partners at the time of the sale called it "the largest contiguous undeveloped tract left in Collin County."
Although the outer loop is still under construction, its anticipated arrival has already spurred growth for cities such as Celina, which was recently ranked the fastest-growing city in the nation.
Access to freeways and proximity to good school districts are also driving growth along the loop, and these amenities are what Larry Corson, co-founder and co-president of Corson Cramer Development, believes will "positively" impact Colmena Ranch.
“That's the formula,” Corson said. “That's what homeowners are looking for.”
Wilson said anticipation of the loop has led to an increase in land sales and new developments in the area, stating “development follows corridors.”
A prime example of this trend is Ten Mile Creek, a 481-lot residential project that fronts the Outer Loop in Celina, between Coit Road and Custer Road. The community, spearheaded by CCD, is located in the Celina Independent School District and is about a mile from the new Collin College campus that opened in August 2021.
Infrastructure construction began in 2022 and finished this past summer. The second phase of the development is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025, Corson said.
American Legend Homes and William Ryan Homes will construct the single-family homes in Ten Mile Creek, and Grenadier Homes is building the townhomes.
Planned or recently opened residential developments along the outer loop corridor include the Parks at Wilson Creek, Cross Creek Meadows and Honey Creek. Many of these projects along the jurisdiction are typically "master-planned communities with multiple phases, nice amenities and a spectrum of different lot sizes and price points," Wilson said.
Additionally, construction on a 272-unit multifamily community at Knox Street and Collin County Outer Loop is expected to begin in the second or third quarter of 2025. The four-story building will feature a mixture of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 600 to 1,280 square feet. Ohio-based Tri-C Construction and Cedarwood Architecture are the contractors.
"What you want is big housing developments near where future highways are coming so that there's good mobility for everybody," Corson said.
Once fully constructed, the Collin County Outer Loop will connect several growing cities including Celina, Weston, Anna, Farmersville, Josephine and Royse City. The access freeway is seen as a "steady drumbeat for new development moving north" and is considered a "game changer" in terms of improving access to North Texas, Wilson said.
"It brings connectivity," Wilson said.
The development of the outer loop can be compared to the recent growth locals have witnessed along the Dallas North Tollway since 1968, when the first section opened between downtown Dallas and Interstate 635. Over the last 50 years, the tollway has expanded to Gaylord Parkway, US 380 and Prosper, and can be partially attributed to Texas' status as one of two U.S. states with a population of 30 million or more, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
From 2000 to 2022, Collin County grew by 132%, making it one of the two fastest-growing counties in Texas. Denton County ranks second with a growth increase of 123% over the same time period.
Due to this rapid growth and ongoing traffic congestion, the North Texas Tollway Authority is adding a fourth lane to the DNT between Sam Rayburn Tollway/State Highway 121 and U.S. 380 in Frisco. There are also plans to add more lanes to Dallas Parkway., which is the tollway's frontage road.
Although much of the new construction in North Texas appears to be residential focused, Corson believes "commercial elements will follow over time." Ultimately, residents in these emerging communities need retail amenities to support their daily lives just as much as they need good school districts and convenient freeway access, he said.
