Anyone know more about this? This will be the 3rd fairly new private club in this growing area north of Dallas. D.A. Weibring's locally well received Gentle Creek is close by, and Weiskopf's TPC Craig Ranch (site of this year's Nationwide Tour championship) is near as well. Just down the road is the soon to be opened (10/4) Bridges at Preston Crossing by Jeff Brauer. I believe the developers hope that course becomes private at some point. The under-rated Stonebridge Ranch Country Club (very solid Dye course and decent Art Hills 27) is a more established private club also in the area.
Typically hyperbole on the press release. I hadn't heard about this development and was wondering if any of our resident architects had been out to see the land, or if anyone had any more info. This is close by to my locale so I'm curious.
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, August 22, 2008
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com
Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus is teaming up with a prominent local developer to create a state-of-the-art golf course in Collin County.
Longtime developer and homebuilder Jim Williams Jr. is building the golf course as the centerpiece of a planned residential and commercial community on U.S. Highway 380 in Prosper.
Work on the 225-acre BearsBrook golf course designed by Mr. Nicklaus is set to begin next year.
"We are stepping out and doing the golf course first," said Mr. Williams, who is president of Frisco-based LandPlan Development Co. "This is a big step for us.
"We want this to be the best member-owned golf club in North Texas."
LandPlan executive vice president Scott Erwin said the developers are already recruiting members for the golf club, which is to open in 2010.
The development site includes two creeks, a lake and has areas that are heavily wooded. "The terrain is what makes this property great for a golf course," Mr. Erwin said.
Mr. Nicklaus has been working on the project since touring the site earlier this year.
"This is a beautiful piece of property," he said in a statement. "It is going to be a very special project, and we are delighted to be a part of it."
Plans are for the Prosper project to become one of Nicklaus Design's signature golf courses, which now include about two dozen properties around the world.
Altogether, LandPlan owns about 1,400 acres in the area at U.S. 380 and Custer Road.
"I bought the first land out there in 1990," Mr. Williams said. "I could see that when the Dallas North Tollway got built to U.S. 380 that development in this area would happen."
After the golf course is built, LandPlan hopes to build three gated residential communities and commercial development on the property it owns.
"I've never announced a project that I wasn't going to build," Mr. Williams said.
He has more than 30 years of experience in the North Texas real estate market, doing projects that include Caruth Homeplace in North Dallas and – currently – the Chapel Creek residential community in Frisco.
The one-time University of Arkansas football star also builds medical office buildings and retail centers.
Prosper city officials are enthusiastic about the planned Nicklaus golf course. The Collin County town is expected to be one of the fastest growing of Dallas' northern suburbs in the years ahead. Several large mixed-use developments are planned.
"We have some really good golf courses scattered around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but I don't think they compare to this one," said Prosper Mayor Charles Niswanger. "It will be the nicest golf course, I think, in the state.
"I hope to see a PGA tournament played on it some day."
Prosper currently has one golf course, the Gentle Creek Golf Club, which opened in 2002. That facility has more than 300 members.
Nicklaus Design is considered one of the world's top golf course planning firms and has worked in 32 countries.