ANNA, Texas — This story originally appeared in the Dallas Business Journal.
Anna will be the next North Texas city to land a lagoon-anchored residential community after the City Council approved a development agreement with Megatel Homes in a meeting Tuesday night.
Plans for the Anacapri Project, at an estimated cost of $800 million, include 1,239 single-family units, 600 multifamily units, a 30,000-square-foot commercial entertainment building, a 2.3-acre crystal lagoon and other amenities, according to Joey Grisham, director of economic development for the fast-growing Collin County city north of McKinney.
The artificial lagoon will have two sand beaches — one public and one private — a Flow Rider surf simulator, swim-up bar, kids play area and a water slide.
The Anacapri will be immediately west of Anna High School beside the upcoming extension of Rosamond Parkway and Ferguson Parkway.
Construction on the development is scheduled to begin in three to four months.
The city of Anna will create a Public Improvement District and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone to assist with the project’s infrastructure costs, Grisham said.
The city will receive more than $2.1 million in Public Improvement District fees and 65% of sales/use taxes on construction materials. Additionally, the Anna Economic Development Corp. and Community Development Corp. will each receive .50 cents per ticket sold to enter the lagoon area.
Anna’s City Council approved zoning for the Anacapri project in December, and the city has been working since then with its financial consultants, legal counsel and Megatel to create the development agreement.
As part of the agreement, if the lagoon ceases operation for more than 30 consecutive days for reasons other than weather, governmental or seasonal, TIRZ payments for the corresponding year will not be paid.
As the project’s developer, Dallas-based Megatel will construct the Anacapri community’s portion of Ferguson Parkway.
The developer is also required to spend at least $25 million on the commercial and lagoon portion of the project.
“I am excited for the impact of this project and look forward to seeing it come to fruition,” Anna Mayor Nate Pike said in a statement posted on the city’s website. “This is a game-changer for Anna and provides several unique activities for Anna neighbors.”
Lagoon-anchored residential communities are all the rage across the Sun Belt, and Megatel is one of the developers leading the wave in North Texas.
The Anacapri community is Megatel Homes’ fourth lagoon community out of the more than 100 developments the company has completed since 2006.
Megatel Homes LLC is developing a more than $800 million lagoon community with hundreds of homes in Forney. The Bellagio Lagoon project will be centered around a large, artificial lagoon with white sand beaches. Homes there will range from 1,800 square feet to 4,200 square feet and be priced between $349,000 to $600,000.
The first phase of the Forney project will have about 400 homes.
Megatel in April revealed plans for a $1 billion mixed-use project that will include a 5-acre lagoon, thousands of homes, and retail and entertainment space on 46 acres south of Singleton Boulevard, west of downtown Dallas. That project, called SoHo Square, will have at least 2,100 apartments, with 15% of them reserved for those making less than the area median income.
And Megatel in December announced plans for a more than $450 million residential community with 1,200 homes built around a Venetian Lagoon in Weston, north of McKinney. Those homes will range in size from 1,200-3,500 square feet and will be priced between $250,000-$500,000.
Megatel is also working on plans for 15 additional lagoon communities throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Prosper-based Tellus Group, the developers of the large and popular Windsong Ranch lagoon community in Denton County, is also at the forefront of the trend in North Texas, as planners try new options after deciding golf-centered communities have run their course.
