One of North Texas' newest residential communities is making a play to attract older residents.
The 2,000-acre Trinity Falls development north of McKinney is kicking off a new home community by builder Del Webb. The nationwide housing firm has started work on a new neighborhood with 537 homes for buyers age 55-plus.
"We are bringing the legacy of Del Webb and opening up our third community here in the Metroplex," said Josh Cook, general sales manager for Pulte Group, which owns Del Webb. "The response has been overwhelming, so we are speeding up things slightly.
"We are anticipating in mid to late April we will start doing our first contracts."
Baby boomer buyers are one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. home market, as older Americans downsize their homes and move closer to friends and family.
Del Webb has been building an older adult community called Frisco Lakes near Lake Lewisville for 14 years. And last fall, the developer opened a new 55-plus neighborhood in the Union Park community in Aubrey.
"There are going to be approximately 600 homes at our project in Union Park," Cook said. "We are getting a lot of people from the north corridor who are already there.
"And we have folks moving from Hawaii and from Missouri and the East Coast and West Coast," he said. "We've seen people move here for jobs, then their parents and grandparents relocate to the area to be closer."
Unlike the sprawling Del Webb communities the company has built since the 1960s, the projects the developer is doing in North Texas are smaller neighborhoods that plug into growing residential areas.
"You try to partner with excellent communities like we've done in Trinity Falls," Cook said.
Opened in 2014 just west of U.S. Highway 75, Trinity Falls is owned by Houston-based Johnson Development Corp. and Tricon Capital.
Plans for the $1.5 billion project call for 5,000 homes.
"We are now at about 1,000 homes," said Bob Ditthardt, Trinity Falls' general manager. "Right now we have nine builders and the new product we are bringing in this year includes Del Webb.
"Part of what we are excited about with Del Webb is they are offering new homes under $300,000."
The houses Del Webb is selling at Trinity Falls will be priced from the low $200,000s to the high $300,000s and will range from 1,300 square feet to 2,800 square feet.
"They are bringing in a quality national builder that has a fantastic name, and that is a big positive for us," Ditthardt said. "We also feel that it is a demographic that adds to the vibrancy of the overall community.
"We will have homes for people with preschool kids all the way to retirees."
The first phase of Del Webb's Trinity Falls community will have sites for 140 homes. There will also be an exclusive community center and swimming pool for Del Webb's residents.
"Frisco Lakes is one of the most successful Del Webb communities in the country," and it's nearing completion, Cook said. "We think the response in Trinity Falls will be strong."
Cook said the builder is starting work immediately on nine houses, models and a sales center.
"We are shooting for fall 2019 for the first houses," he said.
