Prosper Town Council postponed a key vote on zoning for a planned multibillion-dollar mini-Venice built around a 15-acre lagoon and thousands of residential units.
Town leaders said during Tuesday night’s meeting that they want tweaks to developer Jeff Blackard’s proposed 143-acre Italian-inspired village, called The Marco, at the northeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. 380. Blackard told The Dallas Morning News that the requested adjustments don’t substantially change plans for the project.
Under Blackard’s plans, The Marco would include:
Blackard said the most notable of the requests includes starting construction on the planned lagoon at the same time as some of the apartments. Specific language is being worked out, and the rezoning request is now set to appear before the council on Oct. 26.
The vote was postponed with little debate from council members.
“We’re on the same page,” Blackard said of the delay. “We want to make sure we get it right.”
Blackard has called the 143-acre Prosper land “the best piece of undeveloped real estate in the world.” The Marco is inspired by the developer’s close study of Venice. The project is named for two pieces of Venetian history: the famed St. Mark’s Square, also known as Piazza San Marco, and the explorer Marco Polo.
Bill Cawley of Cawley Partners, a major development partner for the Dallas Stars’ planned $3 billion arena district at the old Willow Bend mall in Plano, is partnering with Blackard on the project. Blackard told Cawley about his plans for The Marco a few months ago, and the duo worked out a partnership deal earlier this month.
For Blackard, The Marco would be among his most ambitious projects. He was behind Adriatica, the Instagrammable Croatian-inspired village he built in McKinney. His other projects include Entrada in Westlake, the planned Barisi Village in Corpus Christi and the proposed Discovery Sands in Galveston.
“That’s the future of Prosper,” Blackard previously told The News about The Marco. “That’s the future of everything north.”