$1.2 billion master-planned community in Celina back on track

Premium content from Dallas Business Journal by Candace Carlisle, Staff Writer

Date: Friday, June 8, 2012

It doesn’t look like much now, but Tony Ruggeri and Jake Wagner of Republic Property Group aim to transform 806 acres in Celina, north of Frisco, into a $1.2 billion master-planned community with 2,700 homes in the next decade.

After three years of delay, construction has begun on Light Farms, a $1.2 billion, 806-acre master-planned community in Celina’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, north of Frisco.

The timing was right for developer Republic Property Group to begin the massive project, which will bring 2,700 homes to the area in the next decade and house an estimated 8,700 residents, said Jake Wagner, executive vice president and one of the project managers at Dallas-based Republic Property Group.

“We are really excited about Light Farms finally coming to fruition,” Wagner said. “We have been working on this project for a while, and there’s a lot of time, planning and effort that went into working on this community. We are optimistic about the location and project.”

Like other residential development projects, Light Farms was delayed by the recession.

However, the demand for residential development at the outer reaches of North Texas’ northward sprawl shows no sign of stopping, industry sources say.

“We’ve been watching the supply of lots in the outer-ring markets ­— which had too many home lots in the downturn — get worked down,” said Ted Wilson, a residential market expert and principal at Dallas-based Residential Strategies Inc., a research firm that analyzes North Texas’ residential market. “Republic Property Group is one of the major developers in that market, and they are one of the first to bring home lots back to the market and get going.”

One of the driving forces of the residential sprawl is affordable homes, industry sources say.

“People can drive a little further out and save some money, and that’s clearly where Light Farms comes in,” Wilson said. “It’s a master-planned community at a better price in a good location.”

Another sprawl factor: the public education system.

With Light Farms being in Prosper ISD, the public school system will be a major driver for the project, said Tony Ruggeri, executive vice president for Republic Property Group and project manager for Phillips Creek Ranch and Light Farms. The Texas Education Agency rates Prosper as a “recognized” district, the second-highest rating it awards to districts. Two of the district’s three elementary schools and one of its two middle schools have “exemplary” ratings, which is the highest.

Light Farms gives home buyers the ability to buy into Prosper ISD’s education system starting at $225,000 on smaller lot sizes than Prosper allows within its city limits, Ruggeri said.

Republic Property Group has given 11 acres within the community to Prosper ISD to build an elementary school. The details of the school were not yet available, officials said.

“We’re very big on education,” Ruggeri said, citing Republic Property Group’s success in locating schools within previous communities, such as Lantana near Flower Mound. “This is an important part of creating a multi-generational community.”

Path to growth

Lights Farms will serve as a gateway to the City of Celina off the Dallas North Tollway.

The development will benefit from the tollway’s extension plans six miles north of U.S. 380 to Farm Road 428. A North Texas Tollway Authority spokesman said a start date has yet to be announced on the roadway project.

Celina — which currently has about 6,500 residents — is prepping infrastructure for Dallas’ sprawl to bring more than 300,000 people to the community by 2050, said Mayor Jim Lewis.

“We expect to be the second-largest city in Collin County,” Lewis said. “We have planned well to accommodate that growth. We are trying to build a good town and a place where people want to live.”

And there’s no reason to expect growth to stop, industry sources say.

“The growth in Dallas has followed Preston Road and the Dallas North Tollway for 90 years, and I don’t see that trend changing in the near term,” said Charlie Adams, a land broker and owner of Dallas-based The Stratford Group. “The growth will continue north until the toll road is no longer extended.”

Another wild card: gas prices, he said.

The NTTA has plans to extend the Dallas North Tollway northward to the Grayson County Tollway, which it expects to meet over the county line.

At the beginning

Construction is under way on a $5 million amenity and welcome center at Light Farms, which will be built using historic, old-growth wood from two barns built in the 1830s in the Mohawk Valley region in upstate New York.

Light Farms will have a farmlike, agrarian-themed element throughout.

“The timbers could not be replaced today and will be used as the centerpiece of the community,” Ruggeri said.

That amenity and welcome center will be tied into the property’s $13 million greenbelt, which will include a waterway, hike and bike trails, and parks, he said.

Republic Property Group plans to deliver 400 home lots in its initial phase to home builders by April, and it anticipates that there would be homes completed by summer 2013.

The developer’s home builders for its initial phase include American Legend Homes, LionsGate Homes, Darling Homes, Drees Homes and Shaddock Homes.

Republic Property Group expects the houses to cost an estimated $225,000 to $400,000 or more.

“We are talking to a custom builder to join the first phase,” Wagner said. “We will push price points as much as the market allows, so there are different options for a family as it grows.”