DALLAS--Hillwood Communities, a Perot company, is moving forward with a new residential community, acquiring 400 acres that have been in the same family since before the Civil War.

The land, which Hillwood acquired from the Wells family, is along the Preston Road corridor, at the northeast corner of Coit Road and Frontier Parkway, in Celina. David Davidson Sr. served as the broker for the transaction.

"We are excited and humbled to be selected by the Wells family to develop a master-planned community on a legacy property in Celina that has been in the same family since before the civil war," Brian Carlock, senior vice president of Hillwood Communities, told GlobeSt.com. "North Dallas will continue to be a national leader in creating new jobs for several years to come. Properties such as the Wells property are well positioned along the Dallas North Tollway corridor to create high quality residential communities with tremendous access to many employment hubs such as Frisco where much of the job growth is occurring."  

The project will entail a master-planned community of 1,250 single-family homes that includes resort-style amenities, multiple community parks and miles of trails, as well as space for new retail, restaurants and other retail venues. The new community will be served by Prosper ISD.

Hillwood plans to break ground on the development in January 2016, with the first phase of homes being completed early in 2017. The transaction was conducted between Hillwood Communities and Marianne Wells, Katherine Wells Power, Nancy Wells Warder and Sarah Wells Macias.

"What we like is that they [Hillwood] don't use a cookie-cutter approach," says Marianne Wells. "We decided to go with Hillwood because they are sensitive to the land and its history and that's when we knew we couldn't find anyone better [to sell the land to]."

"North Dallas is attracting high profile company headquarters from around the world and this new community will benefit from that growth," said Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Hillwood and The Perot companies, in a statement. "We are pleased that the Wells family has placed the trust in us to develop a first-class community for the residents of Celina, Texas."