Your Expert Guide

Vaquero: Westlake's luxurious, gated, private community and golf club

There are so many great places to live in North Texas that it helps to have an expert on your side. The Neighborhood Guide presented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty gives you insider access from the agents who live and work there, providing in-the-know info about your possible new community.

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"I have been working in the neighborhood for the past 10 years," says real estate agent Jennifer Shindler, "and Vaquero is one of the most unique communities in all of Texas."

A gated neighborhood in Westlake that's close to Southlake Town Square and DFW International Airport, Vaquero is also home to Shindler's parents.

"I love the relaxed environment — as soon as you enter the gate, you feel like you are on vacation," Shindler says. "Vaquero is where the city ends and living begins."

Shindler offered up a few of her personal favorites about life in Vaquero. Here's her guide to the area:

Where to eat & drink
If you live in Vaquero, you are almost certainly a member of the Vaquero Club. Its clubhouse is perched atop a hill for the best views, and offers dining options that range from formal to casual to outdoors by the fire pit. And if you don't feel like dining out, the club restaurant will deliver food right to your door.

Where to play
"When you become a member of the club, you gain access to a lot of neighborhood amenities including golf, tennis, pickleball, group activities, swimming, the gym, and a stocked fishing pond," says Shindler.

"The clubhouse also has a kids club, which allows parents to have a date night at the club," she says. And, speaking of children: Those in the neighborhood have the opportunity to attend Westlake Academy, a nationally ranked K-12 charter school operating under the International Baccalaureate curriculum.

Shindler personally enjoys a round of golf and exploring the neighborhood's many trails and lakes.

Where to live
Vaquero has various custom homes, and the pair says there is a type of home for every architectural taste, including French, Santa Barbara-style, Texas Hill Country, Mediterranean, and contemporary.

Shindler has sold many homes in the neighborhood, but her most recent is a gorgeous example of Vaquero's high-quality building.

2211 Vaquero Estates Blvd. is a Santa Barbara-style home that was fully reimagined by David Stocker, AIA and principal of SHM Architects, with interiors by designer Barry Williams.

Before going on the market, it underwent a two-year renovation that included a showstopping kitchen with a butler's pantry and bar, a primary suite with two oversized closets, a Crestron whole-house AV system, Lutron lights, and floor-to-ceiling steel-and-glass back walls that offer views of the resort-style backyard.

A game room, home theater, elevator, and separate golf-cart garage complete the dream dwelling.

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Jennifer Shindler works and plays in Vaquero. For more information on buying and selling a home in the area, click here, email jshindler@briggsfreeman.com, or call 214-215-5181.

The pair recently sold 2211 Vaquero Estates Blvd.

Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty

2211 Vaquero Estates Blvd. is a great example of the neighborhood.

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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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