Hines has acquired Brown Ranch, a 1,476-acre site on Fort Worth’s western flank, and intends to build 3,800 single-family homes across a roughly 12-year buildout, the Houston-based developer announced. Six national homebuilders are already committed to the project: Beazer Homes, DRB Homes, HistoryMaker Homes, Meritage Homes, Pulte Homes, and Risewell Homes. Trez Capital is the equity partner, with acquisition and development financing from Harvest Capital and TPG Credit.
The deal closes a lengthy negotiation with the City of Fort Worth that Hines spent the better part of a year working through. The city’s central demand was infrastructure: before lots could be sold and homes could be built, Hines would need to complete off-site road improvements that city planners consider essential to preventing the congestion problems that have accumulated in North Fort Worth over the past decade. The specific obligations include construction of Walsh Ranch Parkway, a north-south arterial connecting White Settlement Road to Interstate 20; a new East-West connector called West Point Boulevard; and upgrades to Old Weatherford Road. Hines also secured a municipal utility district as part of the agreement, giving the project a dedicated public financing mechanism to support ongoing infrastructure and services as the community builds out.
“Road infrastructure was the biggest thing,” Landy Burdine of Land Advisors Organization, which represented the Brown family in the sale, told The Real Deal. “The city didn’t want to have some of the problems that North Fort Worth is having with a lack of sufficient road infrastructure.” Burdine worked the transaction alongside Austin Reilly and Josh Watson…