Legacy Partners, a real estate firm that develops, manages, and acquires multifamily communities in core markets throughout the nation, has bought 11 acres of land to build a luxury 133-unit single-family rental community in Melissa.

The news was confirmed by Legacy’s brokerage firm, Vanguard Real Estate Advisors, on October 19.

The site of the new development is located along State Highway 5, about three miles northeast of the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and State Highway 121. The site is also positioned just south of the Melissa United Methodist Church at 3851 McKinney St.

Legacy acquired the property after striking a deal with the previous owner Doug Zadow, a prominent landowner in Melissa.

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Jordan Cortez, managing principal of Vanguard Real Estate Advisors, alongside Mason John and Haley Birmingham — also from Vanguard — represented Legacy during the transaction.

Cortez revealed that Legacy and other developers are looking to start more projects in Melissa due to the city’s growing population, great schools, and residents’ high income.

“We’re seeing a tremendous amount of interest from both build-to-rent and multifamily developers in that market,” Cortez said.

Located just 40 miles north of Dallas, Melissa is fast becoming a hub for new housing development. This city of Collin County saw its population almost double in just over five years. The growth, while expected, left city leaders astonished as they were not expecting the population to grow at such a rate.

Jay Northcut, who first became Melissa’s mayor 21 years ago, revealed that when he moved to Melissa in 2001, Country Ridge and Berry Farms were the only two new-home neighborhoods in the city. Now there are around 20 in the city.

“The beauty of all this to me, when we talk about the massive growth and the sudden growth, is despite all that, I can say that we were never unprepared, that the planning that was done, the tedious planning that was done from years past, made us ready for that,” Northcut said.

NexMetro Communities, another real estate developer, has two single-family rental communities — Avilla Stoneridge and Avilla Springs — underway in Melissa.