Swanky suburban lagoons are coming to North Texas
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Beachfront property in ... Anna. Illustration: Courtesy of Megatel Homes
Who needs Hurricane Harbor or Schlitterbahn when you have … the suburbs.
- North Texas is on the precipice of a lagoon bonanza.
Driving the news: Dallas-based Megatel Homes will break ground on the AnaCapri community — a subdivision built around an ersatz lagoon — within weeks, a Megatel representative told Anna City Council last week.
The big picture: In an effort to attract more residents to the already booming suburbs, Megatel is also building — or planning to build — lagoon-centered communities in Forney, Prosper and Weston.
- There's also a lagoon community in the works in West Dallas.
Zoom out: Megatel has 12 lagoon communities in the works right now — in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Florida — according to the company's website.
Between the lines: These projects were initiated before the housing market started cooling, but construction hasn't slowed and Texas is still seeing plenty of migration from other states and more real estate investment than almost anywhere else.
Zoom in: The AnaCapri development will have more than 1,200 single-family homes and 600 beach-themed apartments surrounding the lagoon, per the DMN. House prices start at $435,000.
- The lagoon will occupy a little more than 2 acres and will include several waterslides and a surf machine.
- The surrounding community will offer restaurants, at least one bar, an arcade, a bowling alley, a fitness center and a yoga studio.
- Megatel told Anna leaders that the lagoon could open for kayaking and paddleboarding by the end of the year, and should be fully staffed and operational by summer 2024.
What they're saying: "A lot of people have interest because it has entertainment for families, something Anna really doesn't have right now," Joey Grisham, director of the Anna Economic Development Corp., told the DMN. "We're ready to get it going."
What we're watching: It'll be interesting to see how these lagoon-y communities age, especially if the housing market has any steep drops.