By: El Paso Inc.
A master-planned community in Northeast El Paso is taking shape, pushing city growth in a new direction.
The 2,200-acre Campo Del Sol is in its first phase of development, which includes 700 lots from four builders and amenities for homeowners and renters.
The project, a partnership between El Paso businessman Paul Foster’s Franklin Mountain Communities and Scarborough Lane Development, will ultimately be a long-term planned community with retail, schools and new infrastructure north of U.S.-54 and McCombs Street.
Investment in the first phase of the Campo Del Sol development is about $35 million, said Ryan Burkhardt, president of Scarborough Lane and Franklin Mountain Communities. That includes about $10 million for the construction of a lazy river and pavilion near the development entrance on Preston Foster Boulevard.
“Our goal here with Campo was to focus on a significant amount of amenities, which is not typically found in the El Paso market,” Burkhardt said.
The entire community will have 9,100 units.
Classic American Homes, Desert View Homes, Edwards Homes and Tropicana Homes are building in the Campo Del Sol development. Model homes opened in November, and construction crews continue to build out the lazy river.
The homes for sale are on 45 and 50-foot lots, Burkhardt said.
TerraLane Communities, an Arizona-based company, is developing the rental lots in Campo Del Sol with four different floor plans. About 40 for-rent homes have been completed, and another 35 are under construction.
Burkhardt said about 96 homes have been sold so far, and there are about 175 homes under construction that are for sale. Homes range from 1,400 to over 3,000 square feet and start in the $200,000s. The development is in the El Paso Independent School District.
“The true completion date depends on overall absorption,” Burkhardt said.
Both renters and homeowners will have access to the same amenities, with maintenance covered by homeowners association fees. The development is focused on families, Burkhardt said. Short commutes to the center of El Paso and Fort Bliss are a draw for the area.
“We’d like to stretch across a wide spectrum of buyers,” he said.
Developers have also made large infrastructure improvements to the area, which is near the New Mexico state line. Improvements include sewer, stormwater, gas, electricity and roadways.
Burkhardt said McCombs would eventually become a six-lane TxDOT road.
While there are no retail or commercial developments sprouting up yet, retail follows rooftops, and Burkhardt said there’s commercial land along McCombs that the companies have been marketing.
“Development of that requires infrastructure,” he said. “To facilitate that commercial development, we’ll need large users to facilitate those costs.”
The master-planned community is not often found in El Paso, but Burkhardt said the concept has done well in other cities.
“They tend to do a little better on the market because of some of the offerings they have,” he said.