Dallas developer Shawn Todd is taking on the State of Texas in an eminent domain fight over Fairfield Lake State Park.
The State wants to prevent the privately-owned park, which is located about 75 miles south of Dallas, from being turned into a luxury housing development. That’s where Todd Interests, a company Todd founded in 1990, comes in.
Todd Interests purchased the 5,000 acres of land and water for more than $100 million earlier in 2023 from the previous owner, Vistra. He also announced his development plans to develop the land, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) operated on leased land on the property for decades before Todd revealed plans to develop it. TPWD declined to purchase the land in 2018 and 2020. Now, the department is trying to seize the land using eminent domain.
Despite the TPWD’s desire to claim the land, Todd and his investors want to go forward.
“[TPWD] tried to interfere with the contractual rights of private parties through threats, intimidation and misstatement of facts, trying to purchase the property for less than we were paying,” a June 6 letter provided to The Dallas Express by Todd Interests reads. “A state once considered the vanguard of private property rights would now take from its citizens and diminish the rights of sellers, buyers, and private-property owners of every order.”
Todd could prove a worthy adversary for TPWD, as he has been developing and repurposing property across the country and abroad for decades.
His firm’s website states the company “often acquires out-of-the-box opportunities with some level of financial, legal, and functional disparity.”
“Many times these unique situations result in dealing directly with sellers/borrowers and their lenders, working through a complete legal restructuring and financial recapitalization of the asset prior to acquisition,” the website reads. “Bankruptcy and pre-bankruptcy are also arenas for which Todd Interests sources these real estate anomalies.”
Some of Todd’s notable projects include the redevelopment of One Dallas Center and The First National Bank Tower downtown and the mixed-use development at 300 Pearl St. He also transformed the historic U.S. Post Office at 400 North Ervay St. into a coveted address — all in spite of the City’s notorious permitting issues.
“You know that saying, ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,'” Todd told D Magazine in 2021, referring to tackling the First National project. “This was a whole herd of elephants.”
The company’s work has been recognized with numerous historic preservation awards and other industry accolades.
Todd won the prestigious Topping Out Visionary Award in 2018, which recognized the “transformational impact” of his work on the community.
He and his wife Cheryl have been married for 35 years. He graduated from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business with a BBA in Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, and Finance.
In addition, Todd sits on Downtown Dallas Inc.’s advisory board. He was also previously on the executive committee of The Real Estate Council and chaired its public policy advisory and political action committees.
In the interview with D Magazine, Todd explained what he wanted to be remembered for in his career.
“I hope what people will know me for is for being a man who was honest, who was trustworthy, and who knew who he was and what he believed in, and that his words were consistent with his actions,” Todd said.
Last week, Todd held a press conference at the Freestone County Courthouse in Fairfield to talk about the future of the property and the State’s decision to use eminent domain in the dispute.
“It’s the open and brazen abuse of power by politically appointed individuals, not elected individuals, and their weaponization of a state agency to wrongly take something that’s not theirs,” Todd said, according to NBC 6 KCEN-TV.
