The Dallas Morning News
By Steve Brown
5:00 AM on Jan 19, 2024 CST

Developers have purchased more than 3,100 acres north of Dallas on the shores of Lake Texoma for a massive mixed-use development anchored by a $100 million Margaritaville resort.

More than 7,500 homes ranging from multimillion-dollar estates to apartments are planned for the new Preston Harbor community west of U.S. Highway 75 in Denison.

“We are estimating the project will total about $6 billion in value,” said McKinney developer David Craig, who last year obtained zoning for the huge mixed-use community.

It’s the largest of several developments in the works on the 90,000-acre Lake Texoma located about 75 miles north of Dallas.

Craig International — which developed the 2,200-acre Craig Ranch community in McKinney — is partnering with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma on the Preston Harbor project. N9 Capital Partners and Dave Johnson, founder and former CEO of Plano-based Aimbridge Hospitality, are also partners in the big Grayson County development.

“The Choctaw Nation is thrilled to be part of this investment into the North Texas economy and to partner with world-class developers on this incredible project that will have a powerful impact on southeastern Oklahoma, North Texas, the city of Denison and Lake Texoma for years to come,” Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Gary Batton said in a statement.

The first phase Margaritaville resort will start with 35 acres on a peninsula adjacent to the existing Grandpappy Point Marina and Resort off Farm Road 84, northwest of Denison.

Developers of the Margaritaville-themed communities — which pay homage to the beach resort lifestyle immortalized by songs of the late performer Jimmy Buffett — have been scouting North Texas for a location.

“The Margaritaville brand is the best in the industry, and there is nothing like this in the Texoma area,” said Johnson, CEO of Horizon Capital Partners. “We wanted a hotel partner with a reputation for delivering fun and laid-back luxury, which reflects the overall feel of Preston Harbor.

“They have been looking to get into North Texas for years, and it is quite the coup that we got to partner with them.”

The Preston Harbor Margaritaville Resort will include a hotel, restaurants, entertainment venues, swimming pools, boat slips on the lake and residential bungalows, cottages and casitas.

Craig said the hotel will have about 250 rooms.

“We’re excited about our continued growth throughout the state of Texas and look forward to working with Craig International and the city of Denison to create a world-class destination with a Margaritaville vibe on Lake Texoma,” Jim Wiseman, president of development at Margaritaville, said in a statement.

Johnson’s is also an investor in the Margaritaville Lake Resort on Lake Conroe near Houston. The 186-acre waterfront resort opened in 2020 and includes a 20-story hotel, restaurants, golf course and more than two dozen cottages on the lake.

A $110 million Margaritaville-branded hotel and resort also is slated near Galveston’s East Beach. Galveston city staff in November awarded a construction permit to RREAF Holdings, the Dallas-based developers of the project that will feature a 314-room tower, several restaurants and bars and a water park. In nearby Crystal Beach, there’s a Margaritaville-branded RV resort.

Construction on Preston Harbor’s infrastructure will start later this year, Craig said. The land purchase was financed with a $67.5 million loan, county records show.

The Preston Harbor property was owned for decades by Dallas’ Schuler Development, which originally proposed a large community on the land. Developer George Schuler died last year, and the property was sold by two limited partnerships Schuler organized.

“We’ve been working on it for two years,” Craig said. “This mega deal has to be one of the largest in North Texas.”

Preston Harbor is one of the largest undeveloped tracts on Lake Texoma and includes more than nine miles of lakefront.

The development is planned to include several large single-family residential districts, an urban-style town center and a large marina.

“We are putting in the infrastructure and huge amenities and selling off sites to developers who’ll develop the actual home lots,” Craig said. “It is all the things you want in a property — typography, trees, internal lakes.”

Craig said along with the Lake Texoma shorefront, there are more than two dozen small lakes on the property.

He said the new owners are talking to several marina operators and homebuilding firms interested in the community. Part of the property is being pitched for an active adult single-family home development.

The development could add more than 18,000 residents to Denison, which has a current population of about 25,000.

“This development will reshape our entire region and provide a level of economic impact that very few cities will ever experience,” Denison mayor Janet Gott said in a statement. “Denison’s economic strength and competitiveness will be enhanced for decades to come.

“Preston Harbor will establish Denison as the leader in the Texoma region, providing quality housing options, more lake access, recreation, new retail and job opportunities.”

Preston Harbor’s development plan turns up the volume on what is already a fast-growing area just north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Billions of dollars of semiconductor plants now under construction in nearby Sherman will bring thousands of new jobs to the area.

And just across the border in Oklahoma, Hard Rock International — a Florida-based company that has partnered with the Chickasaw Nation — plans to build a 189-room, hotel and conference center on Lake Texoma. The new Hard Rock resort will be part of a $1 billion, 2,700-acre master-planned community called Pointe Vista.

Last May, the Chickasaw Nation opened West Bay Casino & Resort nearby on Lake Texoma.

The area just across the Red River is already a recreation destination for D-FW residents who travel to the Choctaw Nation’s flagship casino and resort in Durant, Okla., and the Chickasaw tribe’s Winstar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Okla., to the west on Interstate 35.