Supersize it

Dallas is home to one of country’s biggest concentrations of McMansions

There are mansions, and then there are McMansions. Dallas has them all.

Photo courtesy of Allie Beth Allman & Associates

To be sure, North Texas is heralded for its massive ranches and sprawling estates. But it turns out the Dallas area also is a mecca for McMansions.

According to a new ranking from Realtor.com, Dallas is the sixth most McMansion-y metro area among the country’s 150 biggest metros. That’s based on the percentage of homes for sale measuring at least 3,000 square feet.

Realtor.com’s research unearthed nearly 9,000 of these properties listed on the website, up 35 percent from two years ago. This represents about 40 percent of the Dallas-area homes on the market, Realtor.com says.

Realtor.com did acknowledge a limitation in its McMansion sleuthing. The research encompasses all homes on the market that have at least 3,000 square feet, not just those that could be dubbed McMansions.

“Sure, this includes some tasteful, large homes and legit mansions,” Realtor.com says. “But it was impossible to separate those from the McMansions — it’s rare to see the word ‘tacky’ in a home listing.”

So, what qualifies as a “tacky” McMansion?

“The term was first attached to some of the brash would-be luxury homes cropping up in status-crazed Los Angeles,” Realtor.com explains. “Before long, developers went McMansion Mad. From coast to coast, they erected pricey, supersized homes that hogged just about every square inch of their lots. They were fancy. They were heavily ornamented. They were made to impress.”

McMansion construction largely stalled during the housing crash and the Great Recession, according to Realtor.com. But now that the economy is back on solid footing, McMansion construction appears to be making a comeback.

“If a buyer wants a McMansion, then come to Texas — I have some great ones,” Roxann Taylor, a broker at Engel & Völkers Dallas Southlake, tells Realtor.com. “Builders are putting up 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot homes, but they can’t build them quick enough.”

By the way, the average new single-family home in the U.S. has about 2,600 square feet. In other words, a lot of us don’t occupy McMansions.

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Million-dollar homes

Multi-million-dollar gated home community The Preserve rises in Frisco

Preserve

A palace on the prairie of The Preserve in Frisco

Construction has begun on a multi-million-dollar custom home community in Frisco. Called The Preserve, it's situated among PGA Frisco’s championship golf courses and near the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, with multiple phases that will roll out over the next few years.

The Preserve is part of Fields, a 2,500-acre development in North Frisco off the Dallas North Tollway. Fields is co-developed and owned in partnership with The Karahan Companies, Hunt Realty Investments alongside investors Chief Partners and Cross Tie Capital.

The development will feature retail, dining, entertainment, hotels, corporate offices, native Texas plants, flowers, trees, and 250 acres of park space. It's designed by the same team responsible for Plano’s Legacy West, led by Fehmi Karahan.

Phase 1 of The Preserve will feature 233 homes crafted by 10 North Texas luxury homebuilders: Alford Homes, Coats Homes, and Starside Builders have all begun home construction. The other seven are The Preserve Bella Custom Homes, Endurance Homes, Faulkner Perrin Custom Homes, Hawkins-Welwood Homes, Shaddock Custom Builders & Developers, Sharif & Munir Custom Homes, and Ventura Custom Homes, for whom construction will start soon.

The Preserve Frisco The Preserve in Frisco, soon to be covered with homes.The Preserve

Lot sizes range from 6,800 square feet to more than an acre. Home design options will incorporate high ceilings, open floor plans, glass walls, and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor such as patios, infinity pools, and landscaped exteriors.

The surrounding area will have more than 2,000 new trees plus views delivered via design elements such as floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive outdoor living areas.

Many of the homes will address sustainability, health, and wellness with green architecture, energy efficiency, water conservation, and recycled building materials.

It will combine the privacy of a gated community with resort-style living, featuring amenities such as the PGA golf courses, 20+ miles of hike and bike trails, and the exclusive Brookside Club with an expansive swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts and a playground.

Prices will start at $3,500,000.

Hunt Realty SVP Todd Watson calls it one of the most anticipated mixed-use projects in the area -- æa perfect location for discerning buyers seeking their forever home or a secondary residence" — although he's involved with the project so he's probably biased.

“As part of the Fields development, with prominent neighbors like PGA of America and the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, we know The Preserve will be one of the most sought-after addresses in North Texas," Watson says.

According to the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, Frisco’s population has increased by 500 percent in two decades and was recently recognized as the fastest growing city in Texas and third across the U.S.

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