Developer buys 3,000+ acres for $6B community, Margaritaville resort near Dallas

Dive Brief:

Waterfall Development, a partnership led by McKinney, Texas-based commercial brokerage and developer Craig International, has closed on a 3,114-acre land purchase for the upcoming Preston Harbor master-plan, located 75 miles north of Dallas in Denison, Texas. The sellers were Preston Harbor and Preston Harbor Homeplace, and the site sold for $67.5 million, according to county records.
At full buildout, the $6 billion development is expected to include about 7,500 homes, including single-family, active adult and multifamily properties. Retail, restaurants, a marina and a $100 million Margaritaville resort are also slated for the site.
No details about the housing mix, multifamily properties or resort are yet available. Waterfall Development is currently in the process of finalizing land planning and engineering, and expects to break ground in late 2024.

Dive Insight:

In 2020, Denison was home to more than 26,000 people across 9,588 households, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. With Preston Harbor set to add 7,500 new households, the development is expected to nearly double the size of the city, according to a press release shared with Multifamily Dive.

“Preston Harbor will transform Denison, opening the entire west side of the city to the 90,000-acre Lake Texoma,” said David H. Craig, founder, chairman and CEO of Craig International, in the release. “Not only do we have 9.5 miles of shore frontage on Lake Texoma, but there are also 27 internal lakes, with four lakes greater than 25 acres, as well as trees and topography, which will make Preston Harbor a stunning premier destination.”

In addition to Craig, the project’s general partners include McKinney, Texas-based investor Horizon Capital Partners; Allen, Texas-based investor N9 Capital Partners and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is located northeast of the development.

Horizon Capital Partners will be the primary developer of the Margaritaville resort portion of the project. Preston Harbor would mark the third Texas location for Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality brand founded by the late singer Jimmy Buffet, joining Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island and Camp Margaritaville RV Resort Crystal Beach.

“We wanted a hotel partner with a reputation for delivering fun and laid-back luxury, which reflects the overall feel of Preston Harbor,” said Dave Johnson, founder of Horizon, in the release.

The Preston Harbor area is located just south of the former site of Preston, Texas, a ghost town now largely submerged under the man-made Lake Texoma. The remaining portion of Preston is located on a peninsula north of the Preston Harbor site.