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Jake Dean

Tony Ruggeri (left) and Jake Wagner, co-presidents of Republic Property Group, at the site of the Light Farms master-planned development now under construction in Celina.

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Candace Carlisle

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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MEGA-SIZED AND MASTER-PLANNED

When Tony Ruggeri is looking for Republic Property Group's next big billion-dollar bet, the 32-year-old co-president of the mega-development firm likes to stay close to the Dallas North Tollway — and far north in the region.

So far north that Ruggeri's development firm has snapped up former farm land equidistant from the Oklahoma border and downtown Dallas. It's there where he'll try to hit the daily double with the master-planned Phillips Creek Ranch in Frisco and Light Farms in Celina.

It's a high-stakes move. As the name implies, a master-planned community requires infrastructure for thousands of homes, schools, resort-style pools, amenity centers, retail space, hike-and-bike trails and parks. That's the sort of infrastructure that “expensive" doesn't even begin to describe.

Republic Property Group has played long odds before and won. Its wildly successful $1.5 billion Lantana development in Denton County is home to 12,000 residents.

But Republic isn't the only player.

The $1.6 billion Phillips Creek Ranch and $1.3 billion Light Farms project are just part of a $15 billion wave of about 20 mega-projects underway in North Texas. These king-sized communities will put thousands of single-family homes on the ground, for a population the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to double by 2050.

And it seems like developers can't build fast enough. In certain northern neighborhoods of Frisco, Plano and Allen, homebuyers are outbidding each other and paying more than asking price as home prices continue to rise.

“I expect it will be a busy fall," said Keller Williams Realtor Debbie Jeffrey, who is jostling for homes in Frisco, Little Elm and other neighborhoods surrounding the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.