A historic ranch just west of Fort Worth has sold in one of the biggest land deals in North Texas this year.

The Veale Ranch has almost 3,800 acres and sprawls across the border of Tarrant and Parker counties.

The property — only about 11 miles from downtown Fort Worth — has been a cattle ranch owned by the same family since 1935. It’s south of Interstate 20, between Fort Worth and Weatherford.

Back in 2017, Veale Ranch was up for grabs with a price tag of $95 million.

Now the historic property has been purchased by Dallas-based community developer PMB Capital, which has large residential projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“The Veale Ranch represents one of the most unique investment development opportunities in the entire D-FW area,” said real estate broker Rex Glendenning, who represented the Veale family in the sale. “This ranch is strategically located near the Fort Worth central business district and will allow for a true mixed-use master-planned development.”

The proposed Rivian automotive production plant would be on a portion of the Walsh Ranch next to the Veale Ranch.

Previous studies indicated that Veale Ranch could support the development of a community with a population of up to 30,000.

Other big projects

PMB Capital is already building another big Tarrant County residential development next to the Veale Ranch.

“PMB has been developing a neighborhood called Ventana, which is on the east side of Veale Ranch,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing consultant Residential Strategies. “They have done over 230 home starts a year there, and it’s been extremely successful.

“They are going to be able to continue pushing that neighborhood westward into Veale Ranch.”

The two projects west of Fort Worth are part of an even larger residential development program. In 2019, PMB Capital bought 3,600 acres near the intersections of State Highway 114 and U.S. Highway 287 in Wise County. The former Rolling V Ranch is now the site of a $3.5 billion home community called Reunion, which is planned to have 10,000 houses.

PMB Capital is currently building nine North Texas residential communities. And the firm owns more than 12,000 acres with room for 40,000 residential building lots.

Glendenning’s Frisco-based Rex Real Estate brokered the Veale Ranch sale with Taylor Baird of PMB Capital Partners leading negotiations for the purchaser.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Along with the residential land, the Veale Ranch has sites that might be used for commercial construction, Glendenning said.

The Veale Ranch sale is the latest in a series of mega property trades he has handled this year. Rex Real Estate recently brokered the sale of more than 3,000 acres near Celina and 1,000 acres in Kaufman County east of Dallas to community builder Centurion American Development Group.

Sites getting scarce

With housing starts in North Texas up more than 40% this year, builders are rushing to find sites for future home communities.

Wilson said in the first quarter of this year, D-FW-area home builders filed plans for sites for 40,000 new homes, and they platted 45,000 more home sites in the second quarter.

“Obviously the housing market is red hot, and there is a shortage of building lots,” he said. “The builders and developers are having to grab the next round of land to meet demand.”

Twitter: @SteveBrownDMN