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Name
of development: Heartland
Location: South
of intersection at Interstate 20 and FM 741, just east of Mesquite
in Kaufman County between Forney and Crandall
Size: 2,500-acre
master-planned community
Number of planned homes at completion: 8,000
to 9,000
Projected Tax Value: exceeding
1 billion dollars
Development concept: Mixed
use property with office, retail, single family homes, town homes,
seven (7) schools, amenity focus on greenbelts, parks, pool,
fishing lake, soccer and baseball fields – walkable community
with schools and parks connected by trail system.
At build out, Heartland will have over a billion
dollars of tax value, with a population of over 25,000 people,
and is better described as a “planned city” rather
than a master planned community. The land was assembled and entitled
by Mabrey & Partners, LLC through the creation of 5 Municipal
Utility Districts by the Texas State Legislature as well as Development
and Utility agreements that created a regional water/sewer system
to benefit nearby cities and Kaufman County. Instrumental to
the success of Heartland was Mabrey & Partner, LLC’s
teaming up with Hillwood Residential (a Ross Perot, Jr company)
which was already developing several large master planned communities
in the DFW area. HIllwood had the company wide adherence to quality,
a well-organized back office infrastructure and the established
relationships with national volume builders that were critical
for the success of Heartland.
By visiting other successful
developments such as Celebration, FL and Valencia, CA we noted
what set them apart from other developments
was a strong sense of community. We also observed that the
closer families live to schools, the more involved they were
in school
PTA, extracurricular and sports activities, thus interacting
with other families and creating the desired “sense of
community”. We met with the Exemplary rated Crandall Independent
School District and worked together to alleviate the stress of
a fast growing community by setting up an Education Fund and
donating 7 schools sites. Typically school sites are an afterthought
and are built on whatever land is available at the time one is
needed by the School District. However in Heartland, by interacting
and essentially creating a de-facto partnership with the school
district, we were able to determine ideal teacher/student ratios,
school size, etc. and design 7 distinct “villages” in
which the center of the community was an Elementary School. We
also created color coded walking routes that would allow every
child within each village to safely walk to school. Chicanes
and traffic circles were included at key road crossings to force
automobiles to slow down to below 15 miles an hour. Additionally
we created more of a “linear amenity center” that
included a 32-acre lake with fishing pier, swimming pool, playgrounds,
baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts as well hundreds
of greenbelts and a mile long trail all before the grand opening.
Heartland has consistently been among the top selling communities
in the DFW area since its inception (for news articles and
awards click on View Project Timeline). Hillwood bought out
Mabrey & Partners,
LLC in 2007 and now owns 100% of Heartland.
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380
Corridor
Name
of development: 380 Corridor
Location: Original
location from Lake Lewisville /Hwy 380 to FM 423 and
Hwy 380 in Denton County Tx (area has since been expanded
by thousands of acres by Huffines & Partners and
Provident Realty.)
Size: 2,000-acres
(expanded to approximately 5,000 acres by other developers)
Projected Tax Value: exceeding
1 billion dollars
Development concept: Mabrey
and Partners, LLC recognized the City of Little Elm (just
to the south) was growing at a pace faster than the market
could bear. Lot prices practically doubled within a year
and the City began to impose development impediments by increasing
minimum lot sizes to slow down growth. Mabrey retained Pettit
and Associates Engineers to work on a regional utility solution
which would essentially turn farm land that was just outside
the city limits into development land if successful. The
end result was the creation of 5 Fresh Water Supply Districts
and master utility agreements with the Upper Trinity Regional
Water District to construct a major water supply line along
Hwy 380 as well as a 3 MGD capacity Waste Water Treatment
Plant. Mabrey and Partners LLC, sold the majority of its
land and interests in the area (retaining a percentage of
bond proceeds from the eastern section) to Huffines and Partners
who expanded the area to include the highly successful Provence
and Savannah projects and Provident Realty that developed
Paloma Creek. Although the majority of the credit should
be given to Huffines & Partners and Provident Realty
for their creative and highly successful developments, this
development area commonly called “The 380 Corridor” has
become one of the fastest growing and most successful in
the Metroplex.
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