Terrence Maiden

Many of you may have already heard this news, but it could actually happen—a championship golf course in southern Dallas. The City of Dallas, AT&T Inc., and Southern Methodist University announced late last year a plan to develop a 400-acre championship golf development on an old landfill site east of Interstate 45 and Loop 12 in southern Dallas. Trinity Forest Golf Course is expected to cost between $20 million to $60 million.

What’s most exciting is this golf course has the potential to be an economic driver to the southern region of Dallas, which desperately needs it. There are still many other opportunities within this corridor to consider with the development of a project of this magnitude.

Trinity Forest Golf Course is a project that would spur improvement of homes within area communities and attract retail and restaurants to an underserved area. With Paul Quinn College and University of North Texas at Dallas located just up Interstate 45, these educational institutions should reap the benefits as well.

Even with the City of Dallas’ investment of $12 million to environmentally remediate the former landfill site and public infrastructure, there is still a lot more work to be done for this project to become a reality.  A substantial amount of capital is needed to fund this project. But everything seems to be on the right path, especially with enticing one of the world’s most renowned golf course design teams, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

The 400-acre golf course development will include an 18-hole championship golf course, a nine-hole short course, an administrative and teaching facility, a practice facility, and a practice academy for Southern Methodist University students.  I am sure SMU will assist Paul Quinn College and UNT Dallas in establishing golf teams for schools. In addition, The First Tee of Greater Dallas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching young and disadvantaged children about golf, will be an added benefit of this project.

The Trinity Forest Golf Course project could begin this spring, with a scheduled completion date of early 2016.  I can’t wait to tee-up.

Terrence Maiden is executive vice president-development of Corinth Properties and managing partner and CEO of The Nediam Co. Contact him at tgmaiden@nediamco.com.