Hillwood makes huge land buy in Celina for community with 4,000 homes

A huge new residential community on the way in Celina will include 4,000 new homes.

Developer Hillwood Communities purchased the 1,380-acre Eland Ranch on Preston Road, two miles north of downtown Celina, for a community it’s calling Ramble. The planned development will open in 2025.

“Celina is hot,” said Fred Balda, CEO of Hillwood Communities. “To be able to control 4,000 lots in this market gives us a nice runway to do the things we like to do with these big master planned communities. We have been working on this now for probably a year or so. There are not many big deals happening right now – nothing is easy. “

Hillwood is already developing three communities in the Celina area – Bluewood, Lilyana and Glen Crossing.

Balda said the first 700-lot phase of Ramble is already sold to five builders – American Legend Homes, Coventry Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Highland Homes and Perry Homes. He said the community will include everything from townhomes to houses on half acre lots.

Ramble is planned to include water features, a four-mile greenbelt of parks, open spaces and lakes. The developers are also setting aside 18 acres for apartments and 64 acres for commercial and retail buildings.

“We should break ground later this year,” Balda said. He estimates single-family homes in the community will start in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.

Hillwood bought the property from investors who had assembled the land over more than a decade.

“It was important for us to collaborate with a respected local developer to realize our vision,” Van D. Nichols, the seller’s representative, said in a statement.

David Davidson Sr. of Davidson Real Estate brokered the land sale.

The Ramble property is the latest of several big tracts of land that have sold in Celina for new home communities in the last few years. The largest is the 3,200-acre Legacy Hills community being built along the extension of the Dallas North Tollway.

“Celina is one of the fastest growing cities in north Texas,” Ted Wilson, principal of Dallas-based housing consultant Residential Strategies Inc., said in a statement. “It’s current delivery of 2,500 new homes annually is projected to double in the next few years and that submarket has been particularly attractive to relocation buyers moving to the region.”

Ramble is just one of several new residential communities Hillwood is starting this year. The largest is the 3,200-acre Hunter Ranch development on Interstate 35W southwest of Denton.

“We are still…