Candy's House of the Week

Escape the madness and find some peace at this sprawling Celina ranch

The news of this past week just got worse by the minute. On Monday, we were in shock over the Boston Marathon bombings. By Friday, Watertown, Massachusetts, looked and sounded like Beirut.

We learned that homes, apartments and nursing homes ought not be built too close to fertilizer plants, that zoning may have saved lives in what used to be West, Texas. And it’s okay to go back in the water in Kaufman County now: Authorities have nabbed the bad guyandgirl.

This ranch may feel like the boonies, but it’s half an hour from the basic supply depots of Neiman Marcus Willow Bend and Costco.

After all that, I long for a peaceful, secluded place away from all the crazies of the world. In other words, a ranch.

This one up in Celina boasts the amenities of a five-star club. It’s like an all-inclusive resort, so you never have to leave and face the ghastliness of the real world — which sounds like heaven right about now. There is even a mammoth wine cellar, which is where I will be if we ever have another week like this one.

Located just north of Dallas, east of the northern tip of Preston Road, this ranch may feel like the boonies, but it’s half an hour from the basic supply depots of Neiman Marcus Willow Bend and Costco.

In addition to the aforementioned wine cellar, the 15,000-square-foot home has living areas galore, four oversized bedrooms with en suite baths, seven-car garage, gourmet kitchen, study, heated pool, and spa. Also on the 314 acres are two arenas (one is competition size), a mare motel (a shelter often used for foaling mares), ranch manager’s home and office, stall barn, and equipment barn. There are gently rolling grounds, plenty of trees and thee stocked ponds so you can just go fishing. All this for only $15,000,000.

Breeding horses, drinking wine and fishing. Sounds like paradise to me. Does that trophy room bother you with all those heads? Once upon a time, it may have bothered me. But now they look a lot more comforting than those two brothers in Boston.

This Celina ranch sits on 314 acres.

Photo courtesy of Brian Luker Briggs Freeman Sotheby's

This Celina ranch sits on 314 acres.

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GP News

Grand Prairie expands to the south with new master-planned community

Rendering courtesy of Provident

Goodland Grand Prairie

The City of Grand Prairie is growing fast and expanding to make way for a new master-planned development south of US Highway 287 and along Tollway 360, in Ellis and Johnson counties.

The community development, called Goodland, is the result of Grand Prairie’s recent 1,500-acre annexation extending its southern border toward Mansfield. Overall, with the added land, Goodland will be a 5,000-acre site featuring 15,000 residences including townhomes, custom homes, and gated communities for 50,000 residents.

According to a release, it will be a “city within a city” and a 45-minute drive from Dallas-Fort Worth. Beyond housing, there will be shops, restaurants, schools, public and private event venues, regional sports fields and complexes, dance halls, churches, trail systems, city parks, ponds, and preserved green spaces.

“This is a significant step in our city’s development,” says Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen in a statement. “Unlike many of our neighboring cities, we have the unique advantage of new development opportunities to our south that will drive the growth and prosperity of our city. We recognized the opportunity and took decisive action.”

Leading the development is Provident, a Dallas-based real estate firm that has created other master-planned communities across Dallas-Fort Worth, such as Preston Hollow Village and Hillstead in Collin County. Provident has plans to work nature into the space design with more than 1,600 acres of creek corridors and floodplain land.

Plans are ongoing for a centralized mixed-use walkable Town Center, complete with civic buildings and other commercial development. Further south on the property near Highway 67, light industrial uses and other private employment campuses are already underway, projects that will contribute vital tax dollars for city growth and future expansions.

“This level of placemaking is quite rare, and certainly not easy to execute, especially in a brand-new community," says Provident Managing Director Rylan Yowell in a statement. "We are committed to a long-term vision with a desire to be good stewards of the land."

A new four-lane road called Goodland Parkway will link Goodland to Grand Prairie at Tollway 360 and US Highway 287. It's set to open by December 2025.

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