2,100-acre project headed to Prosper

Wait..is Plano becoming an urban area?....more building in Prosper

Developer plans thousands of homes, commercial space

11:24 AM CST on Thursday, November 2, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Forest City Enterprises – the real estate developer redoing downtown Dallas' historic Mercantile Bank Building – plans to build a 2,100-acre community in the town of Prosper.

The development on U.S. Highway 380 at Fields Road north of Frisco will include thousands of homes plus commercial space.

Cleveland-based Forest City is developing the project in partnership with the Mahard family, which has been a major landowner in the area for decades.

"We do regional master planned community development around the country, and we are very excited about the opportunity here," said Dean Wingert, Forest City's project developer.

"We plan a mixed-use development with a variety of residential types and amenities. There will be commercial development opportunities as well," he said.

Mr. Wingert said construction on utilities and streets on the property won't start sooner than late next year.

"We would like to move forward as quickly as possible," he said. "We have a great deal of entitlement work to do with the local community.

"There is a tremendous amount of design work to go through, too."

Leaders of the one-time farming town of almost 6,000 say they are glad to get Forest City as a builder.

"To have somebody of the nature of Forest City is huge," said Douglas C. Mousel, town administrator.

"It's always been my hope that we would see a single entity come in and develop a master planned community on that property, rather than a bunch of smaller developments."

The Mahard family has used the land as part of its Prosper egg farm operations and for other agricultural uses. Mahard Egg Farm is one of the country's largest egg producers.

Prosper's population increased by almost 30 percent last year, making it the fastest-growing community in North Texas, according to town officials. The town had 500 residents when it incorporated in 1914.