Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Hines acquired 1,476 acres for a planned 3,800-home Fort Worth community. Six builders are named, including HistoryMaker, whose assets were subsequently acquired by Century Communities.
Hines has acquired the 1,476-acre Brown Ranch in western Fort Worth, Texas, for a master-planned community expected to contain approximately 3,800 homes at full buildout. The land purchase is complete, according to the developer’s October 5 announcement, but the planned homes are not yet completed or under construction.
Hines named six participating homebuilders: Beazer Homes, DRB Homes, HistoryMaker Homes, Meritage Homes, Pulte Homes and Risewell Homes. The plan also includes about 70 acres of commercial development, three or more amenity centers, ten neighborhood parks and connected trails. Hines did not disclose the land purchase price, a detailed construction schedule or planned home prices.
The site lies within the Aledo Independent School District along a western growth corridor of Dallas-Fort Worth. Hines cited an approximately 8.5 million-person metro population in 2025 and Fort Worth’s growth past one million residents. Those figures explain the developer’s interest in the area but do not establish the number of homes that buyers will absorb at any particular price.
Trez Capital is serving as a capital partner, with acquisition and development financing from Harvest Capital and TPG Credit. The company did not specify debt balances, equity commitments or interest rates. Until those terms and infrastructure milestones become public, the financial risk and timing of individual phases cannot be assessed independently.
One development since the land announcement involves HistoryMaker Homes. Hines listed HistoryMaker as a Brown Ranch builder on October 5. On October 8, WRE News reported Century Communities’ acquisition of HistoryMaker’s assets. Neither company has said whether that ownership change affects the builder’s participation in Brown Ranch.
The project could eventually expand housing supply in a fast-growing part of North Texas. Hines says the builders will offer different lot sizes and price points, but it has not released an affordability commitment or product-level price schedule. A large announced unit count is therefore an indication of planned capacity, not proof that lower-priced homes will reach the market.
Infrastructure will be a critical test. Roads, drainage, utilities, school capacity and commercial services must keep pace with residential construction. Hines says the plan will retain mature trees, rolling terrain and a creek corridor, although the precise extent of those protections will depend on engineering and approvals.
The announcement also comes as borrowing costs weigh on new-home demand. Freddie Mac reported a 7.40% average 30-year mortgage rate October 8. That is a current national benchmark, not a prediction of mortgage pricing when homes at Brown Ranch are offered for sale.
The acquisition is a concrete milestone for a development of unusual scale. The next meaningful evidence will be infrastructure starts, recorded lot deliveries, builder permits and home closings. Until then, the 3,800-home figure remains Hines’ full-buildout expectation.
