Dallas apartment builder buys high-profile Celina site

A Dallas-based developer is headed north to Celina for a new project.

Leon Capital Group has purchased a more than 18-acre development site in the Celina Station on the Dallas North Tollway extension.

The building site is near the popular Light Farms community.

The new owner plans to build an “approximately 450-unit Class A luxury multifamily complex,” said property broker Rex Glendenning. “The site adjoins the recently announced Scottish Rite Hospital location on the Dallas North Tollway.”

Founded in 2006 by investor and developer Fernando De Leon, Leon Capital has built a variety of apartment and industrial projects.

In Dallas, it’s best known for building a new rental community on the site of the old Dallas Independent School District headquarters just east of downtown.

“Leon Capital has been looking for the right location in which to enter the Prosper-Celina market, and this site exceeded all of Fernando De Leon’s expectations,” Glendenning said. “Being located adjacent to a top health care provider’s campus such as Scottish Rite is a nice complimentary use for our project.”

In June, Scottish Rite for Children hospital acquired a more than 70-acre tract for a future campus on the west side of Celina near the intersection of Dallas Parkway and Punk Carter Parkway.

Thousands of acres in land in the Celina area have sold to builders in the last couple of years.

“Celina is poised to become the next Frisco, and we are pleased to be a part of this city’s quality growth,” Glendenning said.

Leon Capital is planning a new apartment project in Celina, which has been one of North Texas' fastest-growing communities in the last few years.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer) 

- Steve Brown, Real Estate Editor, Dallas Morning News