The 3 Top Factors For Successful Master-Planned Communities In DFW Are 'Timing, Timing, Timing'

The market for master-planned communities in Dallas-Fort Worth has been robust over the last five years, and it shows no sign of slowing down. 

Few companies have taken advantage of that market like Hillwood Communities, which developed the AllianceTexas master-planned community in Fort Worth and has three other projects underway in DFW and one in Houston.

The company has sold a lot of inventory over the last several years and is gearing up for more activity, President Fred Balda said.

“Last year, we called it ‘24 and more because we are putting a lot more lots [than] ever on the ground,” Balda said at Bisnow’s DFW Master-Planned Communities Summit Tuesday at Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star in Frisco.

“This year, it's ‘25 and thrive, with the intent that we'll be delivering a lot of these lots. We probably have 5,000 lots in various stages of development going on right now.”

Panelists at the event talked about the importance of timing and finding the right partners when developing a new master-planned community. Gazing into their crystal balls, they forecast increased attention on extraterritorial jurisdictions, innovation and the use of special financing districts in the years to come.

The 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development is around 50% built out and has generated around $130B in economic impact for the region since 1990, Balda said. The community features a mix of industrial, commercial, retail, multifamily and residential uses.

It created more than $10.2B in economic impact in 2024, according to the AllianceTexas annual report.

While the old adage says the three most important things in real estate are location, location, location, Craig International CEO David Craig said it is timing, timing, timing that counts most with master-planned communities.

“[For] everybody on this stage, time is our enemy,” Craig said. “You don't compromise the integrity of your development during good times and bad times. … You may have to adapt, but you don't just make a sale to make a sale.”

Success means finding the right builders, multifamily developers and retailers, Craig said.

“I look at all of them as partners, and I know each and every one on this panel does [too],” Craig said. “That's the key to success, who you partner with.”

The future of master-planned communities could lie outside of DFW’s suburbs in the extraterritorial jurisdictions of cities, Huffines Communities co-owner Phillip Huffines said. 

“The cities are losing their authority and their control over ETJ land,” Huffines said. “Most of the communities being built in the future will be built in the counties, which don't have zoning control.”

Some cities have turned to withholding water and sewer infrastructure to attempt to have some say in how these communities are developed. But with inexperienced city planners and council members, Huffines said it is common for developers to have to help local government officials consider how things are going to work in the future.

“The reason MPCs are important is they're going to be located in areas where, to get the cohesiveness and the sales and the water and the sewer and all the infrastructure that's necessary, you have to have a master-planned community,” Huffines said.

Water rights and working with cities that have access to water came up frequently at the event. 

Centurion American Vice President Sean Terry said working with cities to add water system infrastructure will be a major focus for future development throughout North Texas. 

“We’ve got to keep being innovative, and we've got to keep using the tools that are in our toolbox,” Terry said.

Innovation is key for Plano-based Tellus Group, which is developing master-planned communities in Anna, Celina, Forney and Prosper. It is a bit of a point of pride because DFW is a national leader for master-planned communities, Tellus Group Chief Operating Officer Andre Ferrari said. 

“The idea of the master plan just allows for so many of the things that people want, in terms of the sense of community,” Ferrari said. “This is something that's going to proliferate, really throughout the country, and they're going to be looking to us and seeing what worked and what didn’t.”

Another critical piece in developing successful master-planned communities is utilizing special financing districts like tax increment reinvestment zones and public improvement districts. 

“It's important to stay actively involved with the legislature to make sure that these tools remain available to developers, because each one of them is useful in their own way,” Bourne said.

Launch Development Finance Advisors Managing Principal Carter Froelich predicted the future is bright for Texas, with the state's continued population on pace to make it the most populous in the union in 20 years.

He also sang the praises of well-written agreements and good partners but circled back to the importance of utilizing special financing districts.  

“My crystal ball is also saying we're going to come up with a new district called the BFD — get it?” he said, drawing laughs from the audience.