The community's estimated property tax value at construction will be $1.7 billion.
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Solterra's sprawling 1,400-acre community of Mesquite has welcomed its first residents.
Real estate firm Huffines Communities is developing what will be a 3,200-home community at Lucas Farms, southwest of East Cartwright Road and both northwest and southeast of Lucas Boulevard. . The Dallas-based developer hosted a ribbon cutting on April 5 to celebrate its progress and introduce the Dallas-Fort Worth area to the community.
To date, the development has completed 67 homes and is occupied by residents. An additional 83 people are expected to move in by the end of the year. A team of 13 builders, including First Texas Homes, Brightland Homes and Historymaker Homes, are building homes here, with home prices currently starting at about $350,000 and going up to about $750,000 .
Facilities such as a 27-acre lake and observation treehouse park designed and built by Nelson Treehouse, a Washington treehouse design firm that appeared on Animal Planet's “Treehouse Masters,'' have also been completed. Other community amenities include a dog park, ballroom space for indoor events, and 25 miles of biking and hiking trails. A clubhouse and three pool complex are currently under construction, said Philip Huffines, co-founder and co-owner of Huffines Communities.
The first phase of the housing development will provide approximately 750 residential lots, and Huffines expects most of the sites the company will develop to have homes built within the next 18 months. The company plans to invest about $30 million in landscaping and equipment in the first phase, which Solterra expects to be a 10-year project.
“We've spent the last few decades really studying what homeowners value, what they want in their communities, where their kids play and what's popular.” Huffines said. “We believe that once all of the construction and implementation of all of these ideas is complete, we are 100% satisfied with what we know homeowners, especially families, will enjoy. And memories. ”
Huffines expects Solterra to generate about $1.7 billion in property taxes when completed. Kim Butram, Mesquite's economic development director, estimates the community will bring about 10,000 new residents to the city, making it the largest housing development in Mesquite history.
Roughly 77 percent of Mesquite residents are people of color, and one in five are foreign-born, Butram said. She expects the city of about 148,000 people to become more diverse with the influx of people and attract more private sector activity.
Nine companies have pledged to move into the area in 2023, creating 2,800 jobs, according to data tracked by the city. Much of the business expansion happening in the city is in manufacturing. New industrial sectors such as automobiles emerged and attracted companies such as Hexagon Prus to Mesquite.
Butram said the city has 400 acres of land ready for about 7 million square feet of industrial development.
Solterra “brings us more residents, more tax base, more shoppers, more employees,” she said.
“When companies look at this region, they're also looking at the composition of the workforce,” Butram said. “As houses are being built in Solterra, the people who buy those more expensive houses have to have higher incomes. Therefore, at that time our company [people with] Higher skill sets are nearby, which is a selling point to attract companies that pay higher skills and higher wages. ”
Solterra isn't the only large neighborhood being developed by Huffines. The company is planning a 2,010-acre community called Lakesong in Grand Prairie and Midlothian, with about 3,000 single-family lots, about 2,000 multifamily homes, and a 37-acre mixed-use development, according to the company's website. is planned. Huffines plans to begin construction on the community within the next six months.
