Prosper Approves Zoning for $2 Billion Venice-Style District With Up to 4,400 Homes
The Marco would bring a boat-sized lagoon, office towers, hotels and up to 4,400 homes to the tollway and U.S. 380. Incentive deals come next.
Prosper has approved zoning for the largest project in its history: a $2 billion, Venice-inspired district with a boat-sized lagoon, office towers, hotels and up to 4,400 homes at the corner of the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. 380.
The Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to approve a rezoning and planned development for The Marco, Community Impact reported. The $2 billion figure is the estimate a project representative gave.
What is planned
The Marco covers 143 acres at the northeast corner of the tollway and U.S. 380. Developer Jeffory D. Blackard has called the site "the best piece of undeveloped real estate, maybe in the world."
Its centerpiece is a 15.5-acre lagoon with canals large enough for boats. The lagoon would also serve as stormwater detention. A 26-foot-wide walkway with limited car access would circle it, with traffic and parking pushed to the outer ring of the development.
According to Community Impact's reporting and town documents it cited, the plans include:
One or two corporate campuses on the hard corner of the tollway and U.S. 380, with office buildings up to 14 stories
A market square, a grocery store, villas and townhomes on the northwest corner
Up to two waterfront hotels
Mostly mid- and high-rise residential buildings on the eastern side.
Blackard hopes to work with Prosper ISD on a theater that could serve both school and professional performances. District voters approved $125 million for a performing arts center in the 2023 bond. As of September, no theater plan had been finalized with the district.
Main Street in downtown Prosper in August 2026. Photo: Ranch9613 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
The housing numbers
The approved plan allows up to 4,400 residential units:
Mid-rise apartments: up to 2,500
High-rise condominiums or apartments: up to 400
Age-restricted apartments: up to 500
Single-family and duplex homes, such as villas and townhomes: up to 1,000
The mix can shift, but not beyond 2,500 mid-rise apartments or 4,400 units total. No apartments can open until the lagoon is complete. After the first 1,000 mid-rise apartments, the developer must build at least 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurants before adding more.
How it got here
The project was not waved through. Blackard first presented it to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 18. Commissioners recommended approval 4-2. Chairman Damon Jackson and Commissioner Josh Carson voted no because they wanted clearer answers on permitted uses, building heights and minimum unit sizes.
"I feel like we've done less with [The Marco] than we've done with much less significant projects," Carson said.
The council was set to vote Sept. 22 but tabled the item until October to refine the language. Many of the changes dealt with apartments. The town barred mid- and high-rise multifamily from certain areas, tied residential openings to the lagoon and retail, and required open space and a pet area for every apartment building.
"This is a very important project, the biggest in the town's history, so we want to get it right," Town Manager Mario Canizares said.
What it means for Prosper
Town officials see the tollway as their main commercial corridor. The North Texas Tollway Authority expects a new section from U.S. 380 to FM 428 to open in late 2027, giving Prosper roughly 3 miles of tollway on either side.
"The Marco's approval marks the latest phase of Prosper's economic expansion, turning key acreage into a long-term economic engine," said Madison Clark, executive director of Prosper Economic Development.
Blackard has done this before. He is also behind Adriatica Village in McKinney, modeled on a Croatian fishing village.
Residents still have reason to watch closely. Under the caps, up to 3,400 of the units could be apartments or condominiums. The guardrails the council added are real. Whether they hold will depend on the agreements still to come.
What comes next
Zoning is only the first step. Development Services Director David Hoover said the council still must approve agreements in four areas, ideally by the end of the year:
Economic incentives
Building standards and refined permitted uses
Impact fee waivers
Parks and open space
Those agreements will show what, if anything, Prosper taxpayers give up to land the project. If they are approved, the developer expects lagoon and site-wide infrastructure work to begin in late 2027. For how other Texas cities are handling large planned districts, see our coverage of Harlingen's $97 million live-work-play district and College Station's 1,266-acre rezoning vote.
