Five Off-Market Sales Clear Path for 1,480-Acre Plan

DALLAS-Provident Realty Advisors has just acquired 1,480 acres in one day of closings with five property owners in an off-market deal that's taken a year to put together. The all-in build-out plan is projected at $75 million--and it's just one of several rising on the open land stretching southwest of Dallas.

The acreage straddles Johnson and Ellis counties in the extra territorial jurisdiction of the City of Grand Prairie, meaning it's primed for annexation. That's not part of the immediate plan, says Landry Burdine with Patterson & Associates Commercial Real Estate in Fort Worth, who assembled the deal for Dallas-based Provident.

Provident's master plan for Prairie Ridge has roughly 140 acres set aside for retail and community amenities like a clubhouse, trails, swim club, parks and ball fields. The balance of the land will be sold to homebuilders in "super pad sites" for single-family housing.

Burdine says the Prairie Ridge plan met little opposition from municipal officials because they perceived Provident's plan as "quality growth for the future" as opposed to manufactured housing developments that have been cropping up on the fringes of many North Texas cities. The US Highway 287 corridor between Midlothian and Mansfield is a hotbed of activity as residential and retail developers jockey for position in a pocket that's relatively close to both Dallas and Fort Worth. But, it's not likely that all the development talk will come to fruition, say market watchers.

Jay Hawes, a Provident principal, tells GlobeSt.com that land will break on Prairie Ridge toward the end of the year. He estimates build-out costs will surpass $75 million to deliver a development laid out in "villages" with about 20 acres of neighborhood shopping centers. The development will be accessible from US 287.

Three miles to the south, Dallas developer, Gra-Son Land Inc. is fine-tuning a plan for the 506-acre Westside Preserve, which has two miles of highway frontage. The residential builder, holding 288 acres for its residential development, plans to sell 80 acres to multifamily builders and 54 acres to retail developers. Harold Dixson, principal in Gra-Son, says ground most likely won't break until first or second quarter 2006.

"We're just taking a breather," Dixson says, citing 2.5 years of work to assemble the land, close the deals and secure zoning for the development. He estimates infrastructure and Gray-Son's single-family component alone will cost $30 million.

Prairie Ridge and Westside Preserve have cleared their hurdles, but more are sure to follow in the far southwestern sector. "Arlington has no more raw land," Dixson says, "and Mansfield has set their standards so high that we can't build. "Midlothian and the next tier is where we all have to go to do some affordable development."