Overland Grove Community Donates Site for Forney Elementary School

March 12, 2020

Overland Grove is a Highly-Amenitized, Multi-Phased Development

DALLAS – March, 2020 – Wynne/Jackson, a Dallas-based real estate development firm that specializes in creating master planned developments, including Overland Grove in Forney, announced today the donation of an approximate 12-acre site in Overland Grove to the Forney Independent School District.  The 12-acre site is planned for construction of a future Forney ISD elementary school.

Overland Grove and Forney ISD are already working collaboratively to ensure the site is ready for construction of a new elementary school.  “One of the primary reasons we chose to develop in Forney is the schools”, said Frank Murphy, Sr. Vice President and principal of Wynne/Jackson, Inc.  “Forney is a great city to raise a family, with an excellent school system, abundant parks, and an emerging historical downtown district.  We are excited to have two of the top homebuilders in the country as the builders in the project.  This will be the most sought-after master planned community in Forney thanks to the extensive planning, the quality amenities and the thoughtful design.”

“This is a great property, and we are grateful and excited that the developers of Overland Grove are partnering with us to provide a future school site for the students of Forney ISD,” Forney ISD Superintendent Justin Terry said. “As we prepare to add over 8,500 new students over the next 10 years, this school site has given us another option to build in a location to best meet the needs of our growth.”

In the March 2, 2020 Forney ISD Board of Trustees meeting, the Forney ISD Board of Trustees announced their four-year construction plan — calling for the construction of six new campuses and improvements to several other district facilities.

In 2022, the district plans to open the Don R. Willett Elementary School in the Gateway development and the O.B. Johnson Elementary School in the Overland Grove development.

The 336-acre Overland Grove project is planned for the development of over 1,000 single-family residential lots with an estimated economic value exceeding $300,000,000.  The project has a variety of lot sizes, residential design guidelines, significant open space, miles of pedestrian trails, a community garden area, and a recently completed resort-style amenity center with an 8,400 square foot resort pool.  Phase 1 of 327 lots was completed in 2019 and lots were delivered to two of the largest public homebuilders in the country, both with a strong presence in North Texas, Taylor Morrison and Lennar Homes. Homes are priced between $275K and $400K.

Model homes are now open that overlook the fishing pier on one of the two large fishing ponds at the main entrance to the community off FM 548 in Forney.

Wynne/Jackson partnered with a national private equity real estate investment group, RAM Real Estate Capital and Landmark Bank has provided construction financing for the first phase of lots.  LJA Engineering is the project engineer and LandDesign provided the landscape design for the project.