Terrell is aiming to upend the traditional approach to growth

TERRELL — While some politicians hope new homes will bring jobs and shopping to their cities, Terrell is trying to become living proof that jobs and shopping can attract new homes.

Terrell city leaders have spent the last decade trying to reinvent the Kaufman County city as a commerce destination, with big box national retailers and distribution centers for AutoZone and Walmart, using tax breaks to attract new business while the surrounding region grows.

After snagging a Buc-ee’s mega convenience store and gas station in 2015, the city used tax breaks to help Anthony Properties create the Crossroads at Terrell retail district occupied by Academy Sports, Hobby Lobby, Ross, Olive Garden and, most recently, Texas Roadhouse. One of the shopping district’s most unique attractions is Film Alley, a combination movie theater, bowling alley and family entertainment complex that caters to children’s birthday parties and adults as well.

Those were big gets for Terrell, a community of 18,567 people that competes with other nearby fast-growing suburbs such as Forney and Rockwall.

“We’ve got in the pipeline over 4,000 single-family homes,” said Ray Dunlap, president of the Terrell Economic Development Corp. “And because we built that retail hub, our neighbors won’t be able to bring anything like it.”

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To find Terrell, head east of Dallas on Interstate 20 or Highway 80 and look for the point where the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex ends and rural East Texas begins. Dunlap said Terrell isn’t trying to position itself as either a bedroom community to Dallas or a rural outpost.

“In our view, we are a self-contained community that just happens to be close to Dallas,” he said.

Terrell is also one of the most diverse exurbs in the region, with 25.6% of its residents identifying as Black and 28.2% as Hispanic, according to the 2020 Census.

Sitting 30 miles east of downtown Dallas, Terrell’s average single-family home sells for about $260,000, almost 50% cheaper than in Dallas proper.

Developers started construction on 200 new homes over the last two years with an average value of $200,000. Dunlap thinks the city still has some growing to do in terms of adding homes.

The city’s population grew 17% between 2010 and 2021. Kaufman County, which also includes fast-growing Forney, Kaufman and Crandall, grew 40% between 2010 and 2020, making it one of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the nation with more than 100,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Now Terrell is trying to develop its older central district, with plans for new parks and hopes to revitalize downtown Terrell’s historic brick facades with more boutique shopping, restaurants and a handful of upper-floor apartments to give a loft residence feeling to the area.

“We built the jobs, we built the retail. Now it’s time to bring the people here,” Dunlap said.

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TERRELL AT A GLANCE

Population: Estimated 18,567 as of July 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau

Location: 30 miles east of downtown Dallas

Racial demographics: 43.2% white, 28.2% Hispanic, 25.6% Black, according to the U.S. Census

Income: $53,136 annual household income in 2020, according to the U.S. Census

Median existing home sale price: $260,000 in July, down slightly from year ago, according to Redfin

Median new construction sale price: $300,000

Annual single-family home starts: 200 through second-quarter 2022, according to Residential Strategies

School district: Terrell ISD

Master-planned communities: Terrell Market Center including 570 apartments, Woodlands Terrell with 300 new homes planned and a new 1,100-acre project from Centurion American called Las Lomas.

Retail: The Crossroads at Terrell features Academy Sports and Outdoors, Hobby Lobby, Ross, Marshalls and Film Alley. Also at that intersection is Buc-ee’s, which was the first in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area for the convenience store chain.

History lesson: During World War II, Terrell hosted the first and largest civilian flying school for British cadets to learn to fly. More than 2,200 Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps cadets learned to fly there between 1941 and 1945 to help defeat Axis powers.

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