Friday, April 19, 2024
Completion of the Cresson bypass is delayed until late 2023, but that doesn’t mean that developers who have been eyeing the up-and-coming town 25 miles southwest of Fort Worth will tap their brakes.
Two sizable housing developments are officially in the works there.
Granbury developer Ike Thomas recently closed a deal selling most of his Cresson Crossroads to two Weatherford developers, Jim Martin and Ryan Voorhees. The amount of land purchased by the two men total about 800 acres.
The projects will comprise what will be known as Municipal Utility District (MUD) 2. The MUD will service sewer needs for those developments.
Martin’s project is 426 acres and will be near the planned 23.5-acre Bob Cornett multi-use park and the bypass that will swing to the Weatherford side of Cresson.
The land for the park, located behind the Scottish Inn off U.S. Hwy. 377, was donated by Thomas. Funded through a grant by Texas Parks & Wildlife and set for completion in September 2022, it will be named in honor of the town’s former longtime mayor.
The recreation area will feature ball fields; a basketball court; a birdwatching station; a butterfly garden; a playground; a pavilion; a walking trail; and five ponds, one of which will have a fishing platform.
Voorhees’ project will involve 375 acres about a half mile southeast of the 377/171 intersection. One side of the land fronts Godley Road.
Voorhees said that his development will be mixed-use. There will be about 1,200 residential units, along with “a little commercial and a little multi-family there.”
He said that he is planning moderately priced homes that will be in the 1,500-2,500-square-foot range. He hopes to begin grading work in early spring and go vertical by fall.
Grant Read, who works with Martin, told the HCN that details for their project are still being worked out but that hopefully they will be ready to share more information in January or February.
He said that their development will be mostly single-family “moderate to high-end” residential housing but could not confirm whether any of the land will be used for commercial purposes.
He did say, however, that he and Martin are working “hand-in-hand” with Voorhees and that plans for their development will be “pretty similar” to what Voorhees intends to do.
Voorhees said of Cresson, “I’ve always thought this location was excellent, and it’s kind of an under-served area.”
Read noted Cresson’s convenient proximity to Fort Worth.
“It’s going to be a really nice, happening community,” he said. “There’s a lot of upside to Cresson right now, and we’re excited to be there.”
Mayor Teena Putteet Conway said she is “thrilled” about the developers’ plans. She noted that Cresson grew 160% between the 2010 Census and the one conducted in 2020, and that additional significant growth is coming.
Conway said that any commercial use of the properties will increase sales tax revenues for Cresson, “so hopefully that will prolong the need to have a property tax.”
The town has never levied property taxes since it was incorporated 20 years ago. It has been small enough for sales tax revenues to fund city services.
Conway also indicated that the developments will help keep the downtown area near the 377/171 intersection alive once the bypass is completed and commuter traffic is diverted.
“I think that that 377 corridor is the most under-developed area around Fort Worth, and it’s got the most potential for development,” Voorhees stated. “I just think the whole area is going to boom and that bypass is going to help it.”
